Christopher Pekula, 49, of Montgomery Township. (Credit: Montgomery County DA)
The former vice president of finance of Montgomery Township Baseball and Softball Association has been arrested and charged with multiple felonies for allegedly stealing more than $43,000 from the nonprofit.
Christopher Pekula, 49, of Guilford Court in Montgomery Township, served in his finance role from October 2018 to October 2023.
Pekula's arrest was announced Tuesday morning by Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Montgomery Township Police Chief William R. Peoples.
Pekula is charged with theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received.
The investigation began on April 8, 2024, when Montgomery Township Police met with members of the MTBSA board regarding multiple questionable transactions made by Pekula, authorities said.
The discrepancies were discovered when a new person took over as the organization’s vice president of finance in October 2023. The organization shared documents including bank records, spreadsheets and expenditures from 2016 through October 2023, investigators said.
Police and Montgomery County detectives began a joint investigation into the alleged theft and illegal business practices.
Through analysis of MTBSA bank records, Pekula’s personal bank records, interviews and MTBSA Board meeting minutes, the investigation found that Pekula allegedly defrauded MTBSA of a total of $43,700.80.
Pekula allegedly committed the fraudulent activities through cash withdrawals, false self-reimbursements and false claims made about the office’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) COVID-relief loan during his time as the organization’s vice president of finance.
In reviewing all of these financial records, detectives found multiple discrepancies where Pekula allegedly was purchasing equipment, uniforms, trainings and other expenses for the nonprofit using the company card, but then reimbursing the charges to himself, as if he had paid with his personal credit card.
The investigation found that once the federal EIDL COVID-relief loan of $25,900 was received in June 2020 and deposited into the organization's bank account, Pekula allegedly made 17 cash withdrawals from June 27, 2020 to July 19, 2021, totaling $57,576.
Two of the 17 withdrawals were determined to be for legitimate expenses incurred by the MTBSA, leaving $39,800 that was withdrawn as cash by Pekula and used for his own personal benefit, authorities allege.
In reviewing the Amazon purchases, the accounts reflected that in some instances, he allegedly reimbursed himself for more than the actual expense he had put on his personal credit card or “reimbursed” himself for a payment that was made with the non-profit’s credit card.
These payments totaled $3,900.80. Combined with the cash withdrawals, the total alleged theft amount by Pekula was $43,700.80.
Pekula had led organization officials to believe that the $25,900 loan had been repaid, when it had not, leaving the non-profit still liable for the repayment of the loan, according to the complaint.
“Parents work hard to support non-profit sports organizations like this one in order to provide their children with the many learning opportunities that come from being on a team and playing sports. This group also obtained much-needed federal funding to stay afloat during Covid,” said Steele. “The nonprofit’s ability to provide services were placed in jeopardy due to Pekula‘s actions. This is a sad reminder that financial controls are crucial for all organizations."
The case will be prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Christian Taffe.
He was arraigned Monday before Magisterial District Judge Edward Levine, who set bail at $25,000 unsecured, per court documents. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m., Feb. 11, 2025, before Magisterial District Judge Andrea Duffy.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
