A City of Tonawanda man was sentenced Wednesday to five years probation and restitution for stealing more than $70,000 from a local sportsmen’s club.
Erie County Court Judge Michael D’Amico ordered Richard M. Tober, 62, to pay $69,000 restitution within 10 years to the Gastown Sportsmen’s Club. He has paid back $9,000.
Tober was charged with felony grand larceny last fall after he met with club officials to tell them that he had stolen money from the club and that he was resigning from his post as treasurer.
Gastown Sportsmen’s Club President Jerry Magolis and Financial Officer Keith Raffel both attended Tober’s sentencing. “Under the circumstances, that’s the best way to recoup any of our lost monies,” Magolis said of the judge’s order that Tober pay back what he stole. “It at least gives us something back for our loss.”
The loss of approximately $78,000 “brought us to our knees,” Magolis said, adding that it hurt the organization’s ability to donate to other causes in the community. “But hopefully we’re going to work our way through it,” he said. “We’ll live through it.”
Tober told police last fall that he began taking money from the club when he became its treasurer in 1995.
Club officers didn’t know about Tober’s scheme until he requested a meeting with Magolis and Raffel at his home Sept. 25, 2007. At that meeting, Tober resigned after allegedly admitting he stole $30,000 from the club.
Tober told the club that he covered up the thefts by altering the club’s books. After his admission, Gastown officers conducted an emergency audit of the past two years’ worth of accounting figures, which revealed that Tober stole at least $45,000.
A forensic accountant was then hired to look back to when Tober started at the club. That investigation revealed that Tober took more than $70,000.
Magolis said the club has since changed its accounting practices to ensure that such theft never happens again.
“We’re not the first club this has happened to and, unfortunately, we won’t be the last,” he said. “It’s the way society is today.”
Tober’s attorney, Louis Cacciato, did not return calls Wednesday for comment.
Contact reporter David J. Hill at 693-1000, ext. 115.
Local News
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