Peabody Youth Football Head Charged With Larceny

PEABODY, MA – Peabody Police combed through credit card statements with former Peabody Youth Football and Cheer President Jacqueline Pence, marking each item purchased for her benefit with the organization's funds. During that interview in late October, Deputy Chief Martin Cohan found that Pence had spent $27,712.81 on herself.

Pence was arraigned Friday morning on a larceny by single scheme charge.

The saga involving the Youth Football and Cheer funds goes back to September, when one of the coaches called police to report a "theft problem." The coach said he and other coaches were concerned about the finances, and had gone to the WBZ I-Team to help investigate the issue. WBZ reported that kids were playing football with broken equipment, or no equipment at all, when parents began to wonder where the money was going.

One of Peabody Youth Football and Cheer's officers, who was not involved in the organization's finances, said Pence was the one who handled the money, and said it was a "secret" as to how it was done. According to this person, the officers never met as a group, and Pence made all the decisions. The person described it as a "dictatorship" to police.

The police report gives insight into how things went missing. A $500 gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods "disappeared," raffle proceeds were handled by Pence, and no one else was allowed to count the money, according to the report. Pence allegedly bought an Apple watch because phones were not allowed on the fields, and she needed to keep in contact with people.

Cohan and Detective Robert Church went over the finances from March 1, 2013, to present, and marked the items Pence attributed to personal use. They found many and repetitive charges at retail stores, ATM withdrawals, personal credit card payments, restaurants, gas stations, and more.

There were some transactions that Pence couldn't explain and were not immediately clear, and were not included in the final tally. The final number also doesn't include overdraft fees.

Peabody Youth Football and Cheer, under new leadership, is trying to move forward and fundraise to make up for depleted funds.

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