The longtime office manager for a Sheridan nonprofit foundation that gives grants and loans to students is accused of funneling more than $630,000 into her own bank accounts while adding the money onto existing loans.
Bobbi Jo Neeson, 56, was arrested Tuesday on 13 counts of felony theft for making 276 transfers totaling $631,535 into multiple personal bank accounts from 2013 through the first part of 2025, when she left her job after 18 years.
When confronted by investigators after the scheme was uncovered, Neeson admitted the theft and said that “the guilt was killing her and that she was sorry,” according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Sheridan Police Sgt. Jonathan Snoozy.
“Neeson said she thought she would quietly borrow the money and pay it back,” the affidavit says, adding that she “stated it became an ‘easy fix,’ as she had maxed out her credit cards and needed the money.”
She also told police that she has a shopping addiction and that she “wants to make it right” with her former employer.
That employer would be the B.F. and Rose H. Perkins Foundation, which has been awarding grants and making education loans and medical payments for people in need in the Sheridan community for more than 80 years.
Neeson was the foundation’s office manager, and her duties included distributing money to people and managing the loans and payments, the affidavit says. When she left the job in May 2025, the new office manager discovered the alleged embezzlement.
She noticed when checking on a student who had received $10,000 in student loans from the foundation but hadn’t made any payments. Instead of a $10,000 balance, the account showed he had, without his knowledge, been given nine more $2,500 loans to swell his balance to $32,500, the affidavit says.
How It Worked
That led to an investigation that included a retired forensic accountant who had worked for the IRS, tracking the fraud back to at least 2013, Snoozy wrote. It also unfolded how Neeson allegedly got away with stealing so much for so long.
The typical student loan the foundation gives out is $2,500 a semester, or $5,000 for a school year, the affidavit says. That money is typically direct deposited into a person’s account.
Once that loan account is open, Neeson would add new loans to open accounts, then electronically deposit the money — usually $2,500 at a time — into her personal bank accounts, Snoozy wrote.
“Neeson confirmed her scheme,” the affidavit says. “Neeson said she would not place a recipient name in the transfer description for money she was sending to herself.
“Neeson said she would generate a student loan or grant … then transfer the funds to her own bank account.”
She would then put that money on the books for someone with a grant or loan with the foundation, but then later take it off their accounts so they wouldn’t pay more than their original loans, the affidavit says.
Like the incident discovered by her successor, “this did not happen in every case (but) Neeson said it was her intention,” the document says.
Up To 130 Years
The 13 felony theft charges each represent a year’s worth of alleged fraudulent transfers, averaging about 21 a year, the affidavit says.
2013: Eight transfers for $15,100
2014: 18 transfers for $48,275
2015: 25 transfers for $56,400
2016: 22 transfers for $46,100
2017: 14 transfers for $35,000
2018: 19 transfers for $47,500
2019: 29 transfers for $72,500
2020: 25 transfers for $62,500
2021: 23 transfers for $50,000
2022: 29 transfers for $62,500
2023: 29 transfers for $67,830
2024: 28 transfers for $55,630
2025: 7 transfers for $12,200
Total: 276 transfers for $631,535
The totals for the final two years also include $4,200 in unauthorized office rent payments Neeson is accused of making for a family member with foundation money, Snoozy wrote.
Her duties included being the building manager for the Perkins Foundation office in Sheridan, which rents space to tenants. One of those tenants was a family member whose $700 monthly rent was being paid by the foundation at Neeson’s direction, the affidavit says.
Neeson had her initial appearance in Sheridan County Circuit Court on Thursday and faces up to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine for each of the 13 charges. If convicted and sentenced to consecutive terms, she could get up to 130 years in prison and up to $130,000 in fines.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
