Dog club’s treasurer
allegedly steals $47,000
An Oahu grand jury indicted the treasurer of the Obedience Training Club of Hawaii Inc. this week on a charge of stealing about $47,000 from the nonprofit in six years.
Mary Kay Elias was charged with first-degree theft, second-degree forgery and money laundering. She could not be reached for comment.
As treasurer, Elias had checks pre-signed that she made payable to herself without the authorization of the board from January 1996 through March 2001, prosecutors say.
Questions surfaced when a board member noticed that the club was absent from a list of donors to the Hawaiian Humane Society, which the club contributed to annually. Board members looked into the club's finances and learned that they had been misled to believe the finances were OK, said Deputy Prosecutor Randal Lee.
Also last week, the grand jury indicted the former property manager of Waianae Mall for allegedly stealing about $300,000 in 1 1/2 years.
Renee Bonsilao is accused of diverting rent collected from tenants into bank accounts that she controlled and using the money for personal use between October 1999 and March 2001. She was charged with first-degree theft, four counts of second-degree forgery and money laundering.
Vice President Ed Sulliban of Jackson & Sulliban Inc., the property management company for which Bonsilao worked, said she no longer works there and could not comment.
Bonsilao could not be reached for comment.