A former board member of the Edina Football Association is being investigated by Edina police for allegedly misappropriating $75,000 from the youth sports group.
An Edina police spokesperson confirmed that an investigation is ongoing but declined to say more. The football association notified parents and supporters of the issue earlier this month by e-mail.
Association board member Don Hasbargen said the missing money was discovered when new officers joined the board in fall 2010. The new treasurer realized things "did not look right in terms of available cash," Hasbargen said. The former treasurer and the old and new presidents investigated and then got other board members involved.
The money was allegedly taken in 2009 and 2010. In late December, a former board member was confronted about the missing money.
"After listening to the explanation, we insisted the money be returned to us," Hasbargen said. The money was repaid in late January, but Hasbargen said "ultimately we decided we needed to hand this off to the police to decide whether there was anything criminal here."
He said that he did not know why the money was allegedly taken and that he and fellow board members decided that was not important. "It should have been used for football for youth," he said.
The association runs football programs for youth from grades two through eight and helps financially support football at Edina High School. It gets most of its funding from participation fees, Hasbargen said. Last year more than 900 kids played youth football in the association programs.
The not-for-profit's budget is more than $200,000 and it keeps a reserve fund. It was a deficit in the reserve fund that alerted new board members that something was wrong, Hasbargen said.
