By Ryan Lewallen, County 17
A former treasurer for Gillette Little League has been charged with felony theft for reportedly stealing nearly $29,000 from the sports organization over the course of a year, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.
Rory Geis, 41, has been charged with two counts of felony theft for a series of incidents that reportedly began in 2019 and spanned into 2020 where he allegedly made multiple unauthorized withdrawals from the Gillette Little League bank account while actively serving as treasurer, court documents state.
The withdrawals went unnoticed until other Gillette Little League board members began experiencing difficulties using their organization’s credit and debit cards in May of 2020, at which point they went through the little league financial statements and noticed that the account was short approximately $35,000, per the affidavit.
Additionally, as they were going through the financial statements, the board members noticed that only two deposits into the little league account had been made between the months of January and May of 2020, the affidavit states.
“I know you’ve been busy, but we’re light at least $30K from that,” a board member texted Geis on May 26, 2020. “Fix it.”
Geis replied with an apology, saying that the checks had been behind items in his safe and that he would try to get the checks into the bank that same morning. He met with his fellow board members the following week to go over the organization’s financial records.
During that meeting, the affidavit states, Geis allegedly admitted to using his issued credit and debit card when he shouldn’t have and told his fellow board members that he would write them a check for “a couple grand” to cover those charges and panicked when they told him the account was short nearly $35,000.
He resigned during that meeting, telling the board members that he was going to “have to figure it out,” per the affidavit.
During his time as treasurer, Geis reportedly withdrew a total of $10,491 from the Gillette Little League bank account between 2019 and May 2020 on dates that did not coincide with any events, per the affidavit.
Geis allegedly took $6,736.50 on one occasion, $2,054.94 on another occasion, and $1,700 on a third occasion without permission, the affidavit states.
A larger disparity was identified when board members began comparing Geis’ deposits into their bank account to their registration forms and fee collections, which allegedly showed the account to be short approximately $18,000.
During his interview in August of 2021, more than a year after the incident was first reported to the Gillette Police Department (GPD), Geis did not provide any explanations for the withdrawals and told a detective that he resigned from his position as treasurer because of the time commitment.
Geis was arrested on Jan. 25 and was arraigned on Jan. 27.
On their Facebook page, Gillette Little League publicly acknowledged Geis’ actions, ensuring their followers and members that the organization is taking similar events from happening in the future.
“As a board, we understand the frustration the current ongoing investigation will bring to the community,” the post said. “The board feels this is a crime against the kids and families of this community.”
The post continued to state the board’s belief that the incident has only served to make the board better and said they are working to improve the league and support the children of the community.
“We are committed to full transparency in all our actions,” the post said. “Gillette Little League has a strong and proud tradition that will continue for years to come. Since the case is still active, there will be no additional comments from the board. Thank you for supporting this great organization.”
