This California nonprofit was tasked with fire safety. Prosecutors say it mishandled over $100,000
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Two leaders of a fire safety nonprofit in a rural Northern California community have been arrested after prosecutors say they engaged in a pattern of illegal activity including the “flagrant misuse of taxpayer funds for personal enrichment,” according to a news release from the Nevada County district attorney’s office.The executive director and field operations director of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, a nonprofit focused on wildfire prevention and education in the county west of Lake Tahoe, are facing a slew of felony charges after a years-long investigation into the nonprofit’s finances.
Prosecutors say the crimes resulted in the misuse of more than $100,000.Jamie Jones and Christopher Wackerly, who are listed as the council’s top executive and operations director, respectively, were charged last week by a grand jury on suspicion of embezzlement, grand theft, money laundering, mortgage fraud, insurance fraud, perjury and forgery.According to the Union newspaper in Nevada County, Jones and Wackerly were recently married.
Both have been arrested and are being held in jail, according to the newspaper.The Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, as well as the state’s umbrella organization, the California Fire Safe Council, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.California Prosecutors say the massive hospice fraud scheme bilked California’s medical system of $267 million.
Charges are brought against 21 people.“The evidence presented to the grand jury indicates a flagrant misuse of taxpayer funds for personal enrichment and the use of organizational accounts as if they were personal accounts,” Jesse Wilson, Nevada County district attorney, said in a statement.Jones and Wackerly “engaged in a significant misappropriation of taxpayer funds” over a six-year period, according to the news release.
“The funds were entrusted to the Fi...