Edmonton police said the former treasurer of a local non-profit was facing a number of charges, in connection to a number of fraudulent transactions.
Police said an investigation between the Edmonton Police Service and the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission uncovered a number of transactions, where more than $206,000 was withdrawn from bank accounts for the Children’s Heart Society.
Investigators said the transactions were made between 2013 and 2016.
The investigation was carried out over six months, and EPS said Asa Wedman, 40, was charged with two counts each of theft over $5,000 and fraud over $5,000.
The president of the society told CTV News the development was upsetting.
“As an organization it’s very upsetting, obviously for a small charity, to realize that a former member of the board has been alleged to have taken money from the organization, and that puts us in a hard spot as far as funding a lot of our programs,” Andrea Luft said.
Luft said the organization had been working with police on their six month investigation, and said the organization brought it to the attention of police.
The society started an internal investigation into the developments in the summer of 2016, Luft said, when the organization was working with the AGLC on a routine audit.
“This all sort of came to light last fall, and that was when Mr. Wedman was removed from our organization’s board, and when we really did have to take some steps to ensure our finances were in a good position,” Luft said.
In addition, the society has started civil litigation against the accused and banks involved in the accounts the money was withdrawn from.
