An Oak Harbor woman is accused of stealing $17,000 from North Whidbey Soccer Club bank accounts while she was a treasurer and tournament director, according to court documents.
Virginia Ricci pleaded not guilty in Island County Superior Court Sept. 4 to two counts of theft in the first degree.
The charges were each filed with an “aggravating factor” in which Ricci was accused of using “her position of trust, confidence, or fiduciary responsibility to facilitate the commission” of the crimes. An aggravating factor allows a judge to sentence someone beyond the standard sentencing range.
The police report on the case states that Ricci was cooperative with an investigator, saying she made a terrible mistake and she wanted to make it right.
“Ricci said she couldn’t live with it anymore,” the officer wrote.
Ricci went over club banks statements with the police, pointing out fraudulent charges she made on the club accounts to purchase items from Amazon, Costco, beauty retailers and other businesses and individuals; she also wrote checks to reimburse herself for equipment she purchased for the club but made them out for more than she spent.
Board members of North Whidbey Soccer, a nonprofit organization that organizes soccer programs for about 600 children in the community, found out about the fraudulent charges in June of 2018 and tried to work with Ricci to repay for account; the state youth soccer association’s guidelines states that clubs are supposed to attempt to recover embezzled funds and should report it to police if the money isn’t recovered in a reasonable amount of time.
The club officials reported the alleged thefts to Oak Harbor police in February of this year. They said Ricci had access to multiple bank accounts because of her volunteer positions and had admitted to stealing from them, the report states.
According to court documents, Ricci was sued by a friend from whom she borrowed $10,000 through a promissory note in 2016 and didn’t pay back.
A judge awarded a default judgment against Ricci in June.
