While Turlock Youth Football is dealing with a police investigation of alleged embezzlement by two former board members (the president and treasurer), the current board and rest of the supporters are working to solidify the organization.
“It gets worse before it gets better” would definitely be a statement that could be applied to TYF.
The Turlock Police investigation of embezzlement is ongoing and TYF has been told not to release any information that may jeopardize the case.
TYF President Joe Lewis could state “Two Board Members were responsible for bringing the potential of embezzlement to the attention of the full TYF Board based on small irregularities they noticed on monthly financial statements provided to the Board at monthly board meetings. The former President and Treasurer of TYF appear to have worked in conjunction to hide the embezzlement from the rest of the TYF Board as long as possible, even going to extreme measures such as providing the rest of the TYF Board with falsified financial documents.”
This inquiry lead TYF to start getting their house in order. The former TYF President and Treasurer are no longer part of the organization. Other TYF Board Members have got involved and have implemented new procedures to help ensure this doesn’t happen again.
“Tough new financial accountability standards have been instituted including: 1) All checks are approved by a vote of the entire TYF Board and written at board meetings. 2) Any cash transaction is documented & verified by multiple Board members. 3) Each Board member receives a balance sheet and photo copy of the league bank statement each month. 4) The league will retain outside accounting services to perform annual audits and prepare non-profit tax filings,” said Joe Lewis.
More Problems.
TYF was started over 20 years ago with 1 team. Since the good ‘ol days when the good ‘ol boys ran the organization, it now includes 2 teams and much more activity.
Many parents, volunteers, supporters, and participants are upset with the alleged embezzlement and have brought up other concerns while they’re at it (for one reason or another).
People have accused TYF of operating illegally without a Non-Profit ID # and invalid Tax ID #.
Again, through questions TYF Board Members learned more about their organization. The Federal Tax ID # number given to people (77-0036998) ended up not being valid and none of the current TYF Board Members know where it came from, just that it has always been. TYF had to get a new Federal Tax ID # 26-4762404 and is now the current number the organization is operating with.
Joe Lewis said “TYF is registered with the State of California as a non-incorporated non-profit organization.”
TYF reported that their California Secretary of State Non-profit ID is # 6536.
One Thing After Another.
After clearing up issues with the Non-Profit and Tax ID status of TYF, people brought up another issue by questioning if TYF has filed an IRS Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax. The IRS Form 990 is required to be filed by tax-exempt organizations whose annual gross receipts are total $25,000 or more.
And again, when TYF began over 20 years ago things were different. TYF would have not been required to file a 990 back in the good ‘ol days. Through growth the organization is bringing in well over $25,000 annually.
The current TYF Treasurer is working with an IRS agent to get all the proper tax forms filed and up-to-date.
Website Shut Down, Changed.
Turlock Youth Football had a website www.turlockyouthfootball.com until just recently. TurlockCityNews.com verified Turlock Youth Football was the registrant named as of May 25, 2009. Access to the hosting site was revised and secured because of a possible threat to take it down. Unfortunately, TYF did not secure the actual domain name itself.
Stacey Gleason has claimed she owns the domain name. This appears to be correct as the registrant, administrative, and technical contacts are now listed as: Stacey Gleason, gleasons@fosterfarms.com.
TYF purchased and registered www.turlockyouthfootball.org as the new website. The “.net” extension was also registered to point to the “.org” site.
Inner TYF Anger/Spite and Personal Issues.
Like any organization, there are many problems that arise through conflicting views and personalities. TYF is no different.
Through many (many, many) comments, anonymous and name signed, TYF appears to have more issues that aren’t really legal but could be devastating.
Some legitimate points have been brought up concerning all the previously mentioned, how TYF is ran, who is on the TYF Board, coach conduct, their program’s ethics, sportsmanship, and that Turlock Youth Football is for and about the kids.
More comments have taken it to a deeper level of stating that certain angry people are shutting down websites, degrading current board members, attacking other parents/families, pitting teams against each other personally, and more out of alleged spite and anger.
This alleged spite and anger has been attributed to extreme team rivalry to coaches getting kicked out of the league for being abusive to the players.
Enough is Enough.
As much as TurlockCityNews.com promotes communicating and participating in our community, the TYF comments have reached a level, never before seen, of personal battling.
With the discretion TurlockCityNews.com has begun exercising for the betterment of Turlock in regards to the political realm, it seems apparent to exercise a new level of discretion here.
TurlockCityNews.com will not allow any more comments on TYF issues until there is something “new” to report. If anyone knows or would like an issue reported on, please contact us through the “Contact Us” page, email submissions@turlockcitynews.com, or via comment.
TurlockCityNews.com will have all the official updates on the TYF investigation as information is released. There will also be official news on the status of TYF. Other related information such as updates on TYF President Joe Lewis’ battle with Cancer, how you can support Joe, and if someone will take over as acting TYF President will be provided here on TurlockCityNews.com.
*As it was stated before, this is a new level of discretion for TurlockCityNews.com. Comments will be allowed on this article in regards to supporting or opposing this decision. Your name must be signed to a comment for it to be approved and only address supporting or opposing this discretionary decision. This feedback will help determine future discretion so this is your chance to express how you want this site to operate. We appreciate your visit and participation – TurlockCityNews.com
