A 55-year-old Casper woman is accused of siphoning money from fundraisers that were meant for her Glenrock client who suffers from ALS, also called Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Sherri Roberts of Empower Case Management faces an initial hearing Thursday in Douglas Circuit Court on a charge of exploitation of a vulnerable adult, which is a felony.
The charge stems from her case management of a 43-year-old Glenrock woman with ALS named Deanna Cotten.
Cotten is a former businesswoman and author who has written about her efforts to live with the disease.
Police began investigating Roberts after they were alerted by the Wyoming Department of Family Services.
A Glenrock Police Department probable cause affidavit states that Roberts had launched fundraisers to help the Cotten family with expenses that included a meal train fundraiser; vendor fair that was organized by her own company Cowboy State Events LLC; and a comedy night fundraiser.
“Initially, Sherri claimed she could not provide any financial accounting for the fundraisers,” the affidavit states. “Sherri later provided documents listing accounting for each fundraiser.”
Glenrock Investigator Rachel Brurud alleges in her affidavit that before becoming Cotten’s case worker, Roberts set up the meal train using the website MealTrain.com.
The affidavit states that Cotten did not provide any bank account information for Roberts to use but noticed “an unknown account” was linked to the fundraiser.
The affidavit states that $390 was donated into the account on four dates beginning May 2024. Cotten’s account was not added to the fundraiser until she asked Roberts about how to get access to the donations.
Unable To Account
Roberts admitted to the investigator that the initial account belonged to her and said the money was used to buy durable medical equipment.
Roberts provided receipts to account for $151, but was unable to account for the remaining $238, the affidavit states.
Cotten provided text messages from Roberts to the investigator, where Roberts explained that her Medicare Part B coverage would pay for the medical equipment.
Cotten requested Roberts provide an accounting of all fundraisers done on her behalf. Roberts then emailed Cotten that $3,400 had been placed in a “private bank account” for family use “after her passing.”
“Deanna did not have any knowledge of this money,” the affidavit states.
Roberts told the investigator that it was set up at Cotten’s husband’s request.
The affidavit states that Roberts said the money was the result of a vendor fair fundraiser. Cotten’s husband denied knowing anything about the funds, the affidavit states.
Under her Cowboy State Events company, Roberts tried to organize a vendor fair fundraiser, but not enough vendors signed up and the event was canceled. The affidavit states that Roberts offered vendors the option of donating their fee — and vendors replied by email whether they wanted to donate or their money back.
Brurud wrote that Roberts provided a list of vendors who donated toward the $3,400.
“I contacted the list of vendors and located two individuals that stated they donated their fees to Deanna but were documented by Sherri as having a full refund,” Brurud wrote in the affidavit. “The total amount was $200.”
Comedy Night Fundraiser
A comedy night fundraiser on May 2 involved a comedian performance and a dinner. The affidavit states that T-shirts were also sold and that there were several auction items.
A check was presented to Cotten for $5,170 about five weeks after the event, the affidavit states.
Roberts told the investigator that the proceeds were collected and given to a bookkeeper to issue Cotten a check.
Roberts documented that the event pulled in $5,402 in gross ticket sales, $2,415 for auction items and cash and $1,000 donation for food and rent of the venue. The affidavit states that the auction items alone represented $1,910.
The investigation showed that 39 T-shirts were sold at $25 each and $390 was deducted from the proceeds to pay for the shirts at $10 each.
The affidavit states that while Eventbrite was used to sell T-shirts and tickets online, it was not used to sell tickets at the door. There were also additional donations made by attendees.
“Sherri documents on the ALS Comedy Fundraiser form that all cash and auction items amounted to being $2,415. This number is exceeded when just the T-shirt sales and auction sales items are combined,” Brurud wrote in the affidavit. “At this time there is not a known amount for all the missing funds.
“Sherri provided the documentation and was in charge of this event. Sherri stated she collected the money the night of the event.”
The affidavit states that through the course of her actions, Roberts is believed to have exploited Cotten and withheld money that was meant to be donated to Cotten.
The charge of exploitation of a vulnerable adult is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
In a statement provided to Cowboy State Daily, Cotten said the case carries a lesson.
“This case highlights how easily trust can be abused and the importance of knowing how to protect vulnerable individuals from exploitation and abuse,” she wrote.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
