A Clark County grand jury indicted them on charges of felony theft in late December. The couple pleaded not guilty in a Clark County Common Pleas Court arraignment on Jan. 6.
LaDon Donohoe served as treasurer of the Clark County 4-H Horse Committee and Brian Donohoe was in charge of the 4-H horse club Bits and Buckets, which does projects with horses, according to the organization’s non-profit listings.
LaDon Donohoe resigned as treasurer of the committee in May and it was then that 4-H officials noticed checks she had allegedly written to herself, her husband and her daughter, according to a sheriff’s office incident report.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation performed an audit on the organization back to 2008 and found more than $30,000 missing from the funds for the Horse Committee and Bits and Buckets, Shillito said.
The Donohoes allegedly used the misappropriated funds to pay for a variety of personal expenses, he said, including their own utility bills.
As Horse Committee Treasurer, LaDon Donohoe was the only person who had access to the group’s bank account, said Patty House, 4-H development director at the OSU Extension Office..
Records show LaDon Donohoe also wrote 4-H checks to businesses like Aaron’s Rent-to-Own Center and Tiz Wiz Feed Co., the sheriff’s report says.
The Donohoes have been volunteers with Clark County 4-H since 2004, House said.
The news of the thefts was “heartbreaking” to other 4-H members, said Sherri Risinger, the horse committee chairwoman.
“We work so hard to keep the programs running for our children like they were when we were kids in 4-H and then it’s just disappointing that this happens,” she said.
This theft investigation is the first of its kind in the county organization in recent times, House said.
House declined to comment further on the theft investigation.
The 4-H organization has deep ties in Clark County and was founded in Springfield in 1904 by A.B. Graham.
The young men and women who participate in 4-H livestock and other activities in the county junior fair are the reason the fair exists in Clark County, said Allan Hess, executive director of the Clark County Fair.
“Everything else that happens on the fairgrounds is for the children to be able to showcase their hard work and projects and get the recognition they deserve,” he said.
The Clark County 4-H consists of nearly 430 volunteers, 76 clubs, more than 1,900 club members and 300 teens, according to the program’s website.
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