Ft. Bend Co. girls softball league treasurer charged for stealing $60,000

ROSENBERG, TX

The only stealing young girls are supposed to learn about in the game of softball is the stealing of bases on the diamond.

"If you commit a crime of this magnitude, you're expected to pay it back," said Kevin Cummings with the Rose-Rich Girls Softball Association.

On Tuesday, former league treasurer Donna Welch was arrested. She's indicted, accused of theft and money laundering. Investigators say she stole nearly $60,000 from the league.

"It was just brazen," said Cummings. "Very blatant charges that stood out."

Over at least the last year and a half, league officials say Welch made repeated withdrawals of cash from the league account, even paid, allegedly, for seven airplane tickets to Las Vegas and hotel rooms there at Circus Circus.

Cummings says none of this was for league business. Before they realized what was going on, he tells us the league's bank account was overdrawn by $10,000 and they owed $25,000 to vendors he thought had already been paid.

"It think I's wrong because we learned about that in school and you shouldn't steal," said young slugger Maddie Cummings.

The girls are young but they understand the seriousness of the allegations.

"I think she should go to jail," she said.

It's an off-the-field lesson Kevin Cummings didn't plan on having to teach his girls just yet, that even though you've known someone for years and you think you can trust them, sometimes you can't.

Prosecutors say it's a lesson many organizations learn the hard way.

"If you give someone that type of access to your accounts without any type of supervision whatsoever, chances are that you may be missing some money at one point in time," said prosecutor Scott Carpenter.

The league fired Welch after discovering the money missing. She bonded out following her arrest, but has not responded to our repeated attempts Friday for comment.

If convicted, she could be sent to prison for up to ten years and be fined up to $10,000 for each of the three charges she faces.

Find Kevin on Facebook at ABC13KevinQuinn or on Twitter at @kquinn001

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