Kent Little League leaders continue to dig in at home plate as they dust themselves off after the loss of more than $200,000 from the organization’s bank accounts.
The anger still simmers among board members after the theft charges filed in January against Kevin L. Baker, a former league treasurer who allegedly embezzled $226,515 over a 16-month period in 2012-13 from the youth baseball and softball group. Baker pleaded not guilty to the charges in January and faces a court hearing on April 6 when a trial date could be set or attorneys could ask for more time to prepare the case.
Despite the financial blow, league president Greg Whitcomb and the rest of the 16-member volunteer board are turning their anger into action in an effort to rebuild the league that first came to Kent about 30 years ago.
“We had to make a decision when this thing went down – sit and dwell on this – or get over the anger,” said Whitcomb during a Monday interview at Ryan Brunner Fields on the East Hill. “It still makes me angry, but that wasn’t going to get us anywhere so we had to put that aside. We can’t change that the money is gone.”
Whitcomb discovered the missing funds when he tried to use a Kent Little League ATM card for a $20 purchase at Office Depot in December 2013 and the card was declined. He reported the alleged theft to the Kent Police that same month. It took detectives a year to investigate the financial trail left by Baker.
“Financially, we haven’t overcome it,” said Whitcomb, of Covington, in his third year as president and the father of two Little League players. “We had a little bit of insurance money, and we ran on a skeleton budget last year. …We are probably are on about a five-year recovery plan.”
The support remains from sponsors and families. The league has about 275 players this season, a similar number to last year. Players range from ages 4-16 and come from the cities of Kent and Covington.
“We have 95 new families registered this year,” Whitcomb said. “Between new families and returning families we feel a vibe in the air and are excited to get going.”
Businesses that stepped up to help include Bonzi, an Oregon-based software company that set up the league’s new website last year. Whitcomb said the league was in the middle of negotiations with Bonzi to come on as the website provider when the empty bank accounts were discovered.
“We didn’t have money to do the change and told them we had to stop this,” Whitcomb said. “They decided to donate the website to us.”
The new website enabled families to register kids online and the money goes into the league’s bank accounts the next day. The previous online system took 20 days before the league would get a check.
“They were the key if not the biggest key to our recovery,” Whitcomb said. “In early January (2014) when our website went live, we soon had $8,000 in registration. We went from a goose egg in the bank account to $8,000.”
Kent’s Central Avenue Automotive donated 900 oil changes to the league this year as a fundraiser. Players sell certificates at $60 for three oil change. The Meridian Valley Golf and Country Club in Kent donated a golf tournament on May 2 to the league as another way to raise funds.
“Since the story broke about the theft, we’ve seen a lot of positive feedback in a pretty bad situation,” Whitcomb said. “But we’re not trying to play the sympathy card. We’re going to recover from it. We know you’ve seen this in the news. We’re going to get through it.”
Families pay $150 to register their kid for the league. But no child is turned away if a family cannot afford the fee.
“If they want to play ball, we want them to play and have the equipment to play,” Whitcomb said.
Volunteers maintain the eight home fields used by the league. More than 100 volunteers turned out on a recent day to clean up the fields.
The board also changed its financial policies to guard against any future thefts of funds.
“We went through some audits and put additional accounting safeguards in place as well as controls as far as writing checks and oversight – all of that stuff that should have been there is there now,” Whitcomb said.
The president estimated the league is about in the second inning as far as its recovery from the financial hit. But league leaders are definitely stepping up to the plate, ready to take on any pitch.
“We were kicked in the shins,” Whitcomb said. “But we’ve been around 30 years and we’re going to be around another 30 years.”
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