The business manager of a Florida educational nonprofit for troubled teens has been charged with writing 137 fraudulent checks to herself totaling more than $766,000 over a seven-year period without anyone apparently noticing until she told her boss about it two weeks ago.
Danielle Liles, 41, allegedly admitted to stealing the money upon appearing for the start of a financial audit at Silver River Mentoring and Instruction in Ocala, Florida, about 80 miles northwest of Orlando. An arrest affidavit from the Ocala Police Department indicates she told her boss that “the books were going to be off because she has been giving herself extra paychecks since 2016” and that she told him she stole the money “because she was addicted to it.”
Liles, who has been employed with the nonprofit for more than 20 years, allegedly provided the executive director a printout of 130 fraudulent checks to herself totaling $754,332 when she first admitted to taking the money. An accountant allegedly unearthed another seven checks totaling an additional $12,221 that she fraudulently paid to herself or added to her regular paycheck all totaling $766,553.
Liles turned herself in to the Ocala Police Department and was formally charged last week with one count of first-degree felony organized fraud. Additional counts are possible. For now, she faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 plus restitution if convicted. She is out on $25,000 bail and awaiting her first court appearance, according to the State Attorney’s Office in Marion County, Florida.
Silver River Mentoring and Instruction is described on its website as an alternative education provider “for 7-12th grade students who have encountered problems in the public-school setting or who have been expelled” from the Marion County public schools. The nonprofit is a contracted educational services provider to the Marion County School Board with total annual revenue of just more than $5 million, according to its most recently available federal Form 990. Almost all of its revenue is from government contracts.
Jeff Walczak, public information officer for the Ocala Police Department, told The NonProfit Times he’s seen no other case like this during his time on the job. How a trusted employee was allegedly able to siphon off such a large sum of money for so long while eluding detection by internal controls “is something you’d have to ask them. It sure does seem like a lot of money, to go on for that long a period of time,” he said.
Mike Nebesnyk, executive director of Silver River Mentoring and Instruction, declined to comment but said he would provide The NonProfit Times with a written statement, which was never received. A spokesperson later said the board of trustees would first have to approve it.
The nonprofit’s current contract with the Marion County School Board runs through June 2024. A school board spokesperson said any decision on whether to renew it would likely not be made until May or June of next year.
