Martin, who taught film classes at Sinclair Community College for eight years until he was laid off in 2008, has not been charged with a crime.
The Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office said Thursday their investigation against Martin is still pending. They are screening him to be placed in a diversion program that will keep him from facing a felony criminal charge if he pays back the money he took, performs 40 hours of community service, has no more arrests and maintains appointments with the diversion officer, said spokesman Greg Flannagan.
As for the Page Manor theater, Nouveau’s Interim Director Linda Leas said her organization was dismayed to see it razed, but members are now looking ahead and working to find another theater to rescue and reinvent.
“We are looking at other venues, and we made another proposal for two places, but it didn’t work out,” she said.
Nouveau formed in summer 2009 with the goal of rescuing and renovating abandoned movie theaters in the Miami Valley to turn them into art centers that offer a mixture of movies and special live events. The group’s board of trustees included a veteran film-booker and an expert grant-writer.
Martin announced in early 2010 Nouveau had entered into a long-term lease with Schottenstein Property Group in Columbus, which owned the 8,800-square-foot theater and the shopping complex.
At the time, Martin said the theater would be renamed Page Cinema Arts Theatre and would offer classic films, midnight showings, foreign films, matinees for children and live entertainment such as bands and plays.
In early 2010, the group started hosting fundraisers at coffee shops and art galleries to raise between $100,000 and $250,000 needed to acquire projection equipment, refurbish the theater and cure mold problems.
The group had raised more than $1,000 from a foundation in Dayton and collected numerous donations of between $5 to $250. Leas also contributed $5,000.
Leas, however, said she soon learned Martin, who handled banking and financial matters, had been using nonprofit funds for his personal use, according to a complaint filed in July 2010 with the fraud division of the prosecutor’s office.
After depositing checks into the group’s corporate account, Martin removed an equal or greater amount from ATMs and also used the corporate debit card to pay for personal obligations, such as books, CDs, DVDs, electronic games, dinner at restaurants and pet food, the complaint states.
Martin resigned after the allegations surfaced, the complaint states. The group said he left it in debt and under pressure from Schottenstein Property Group to proceed with the lease.
Martin could not be reached for comment, and Nouveau trustees declined to comment on the embezzlement, but they admitted money problems effectively doomed the Riverside project.
Leas wrote in the complaint, “It would be a shame to see this worthy project fail because of one individual’s theft and lack of foresight and concern.”
A.J. Solomon, a leasing manager for Schottenstein Property Group, said it would have cost just as much or more to remodel and renovate the theater for a different use as it would to build a new business from scratch. He said his company has no plans for the property, but they will build to fit a business’ specifications and needs.
Jack Oberleitner, the group’s theatrical consultant, said Nouveau’s mission remains a noble one, but the Page Manor theater was a great building in what remains an area ripe with promise.
“We really believed that Dayton could use an alternative live and film theater, with an emphasis on local and regional talent,” Oberleitner said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-0749 or cfrolik@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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