The former treasurer of a Gurnee youth baseball league has been arrested amid allegations that he took more than $80,000 from the organization without authorization, authorities said.
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Donald Schaefer was taken into custody at his Grayslake home around 6:30 a.m. Monday and charged with theft, Gurnee police Cmdr. Willie Meyer said.
According to police and a lawsuit filed against Schaefer by Gurnee Youth Baseball, he is accused of writing checks to himself and making unauthorized withdrawals from a league bank account during his tenure as treasurer, from 2007 to his removal from the post in 2012.
Questions about Schaefer’s handling of the account arose when a new league board member was looking into the group’s finances last year and “saw some things that didn’t make sense,” Meyer said.
The organization subsequently hired an auditor to review its accounts after Schaefer failed to respond to its “demands that he account for the funds which were under his control,” according to the lawsuit filed in Lake County.
The baseball group contends in the suit that the audit showed Schaefer wrote himself a check for nearly $30,000 from the organization’s savings account and another check for nearly $50,000 from its checking account. An additional $1,750 was withdrawn from the checking account and written to cash, the suit states.
“The defendant was not authorized to receive any of the funds,” the suit states.
The baseball organization is seeking reimbursement of the money, as well as costs incurred for accounting, legal services and an unspecified amount of punitive damages.
Police issued an arrest warrant for Schaefer in October while they negotiated with him to surrender but decided to take him into custody this week, Meyer said.
Schaefer was released from custody later Monday after posting the required 10 percent of his $50,000 bond, officials said. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Gurnee Youth Baseball runs teams is six age brackets, with players ranging from 6 to 16 years old.
Freelance reporter Amanda Marrazzo contributed.