Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Rocky Road

Complain all you want about the Spirit staff... at least none of 'em ever did this..

Brockton team executive placed on leave amid probe

By AP | October 25, 2006

BROCKTON, Mass --Brockton Rox president Jim Lucas was placed on leave last month after he was accused of diverting money from the minor league baseball team to himself, according to a published report.

The independent league team was investigating allegations that Lucas diverted more than $23,000 from concession operations to himself and withdrew $25,000 from a team bank account to pay himself a bonus, according to an internal memo obtained by The Enterprise of Brockton.

In the memo dated Sept. 6, team owner Van Schley said it was clear the withdrawals "were unauthorized and involved a serious breach of his duties to the organization."

"The long and short of it is that Mr. Lucas had been diverting funds from nightly concessions operations to himself," Schley's said.

Schley wrote that Lucas' explanation was that he did not intend the funds for himself, but was holding them for the team's use. He said Lucas has returned $23,181.25 in cash to the team.

Schley also wrote that Rox General Manager Andy Crossley questioned an "unusual withdrawal" of $25,000 from a bank account on which Lucas had signing authority. The memo said Lucas "indicated that he was paying himself what he claimed was his 2005 bonus. He also indicated that, additionally, he was reimbursing himself for business expenses."

Crossley, Business Manager Mary Scarlett and the team's outside accountant were investigating at the time Schley issued the memo. The Enterprise said it had not learned whether that investigation has been completed.

Crossley declined to say whether a criminal investigation had begun or define Lucas' status with the organization.