$690,000 stolen from St. Louis County charity supporting disabled adults; Woman charged

ST. LOUIS – A woman is facing federal charges after allegedly stealing about $690,000 from a St. Louis County charity that helps adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Joelle Fouse, 57, was indicted last week on three counts of wire fraud. She is expected to plead not guilty on Tuesday, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Fouse served as the association’s director of finance and human resources from October 2012 to December 2023. She is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a decade and was fired at the end of the year. ‘last year.

A federal indictment says Fouse was responsible for payroll, reimbursement of expenses and maintaining the books and records of the charity.

The indictment alleges she stole from the charity in three separate ways…

• Fouse allegedly provided false information to a third-party payroll processing company, leading the company to make 71 unauthorized payments totaling $139,810 to multiple bank accounts controlled by Fouse.

• Fouse is also accused of initiating 181 unauthorized expense payments to bank accounts she controlled, totaling $407,186.

• Fouse allegedly used his company credit card to make 184 unauthorized purchases totaling $133,210.

Investigators say the charity also overpaid the employer’s share of payroll taxes by about $10,694 because of inflated payroll. The charity’s total reported losses were approximately $690,000.

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According to the indictment, Fouse withdrew money from ATMs and used association funds for travel, clothing, entertainment, restaurant meals, rent payments and daily expenses. for herself and those close to her. She allegedly tried to cover up her crimes by making false entries in financial and accounting records.

Other charity leaders contacted the FBI following suspicions. Investigators have not released the name of the St. Louis County charity involved.

If convicted, Fouse faces up to 20 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines for each wire fraud charge.

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