Mary Lisa Sanchez of Emporia has been charged in Lyon County District Court with a total of 28 counts of theft and forgery involving funds owned by the EHS Wrestling Parents Group.
Assistant Lyon County Attorney Meghan K. Frisch filed the complaint on Aug. 4.
Restitution in the form of a money order for $5,000 reportedly was made by Sanchez on June 11, 2009, according to an affidavit filed in the case.
The first count in the complaint against Sanchez accuses her of obtaining or exerting unauthorized control over $1,161 in cash “with the intent to permanently deprive the owner ... EHS Wrestling Parents Group, of the possession, use or benefit of such property.”
The charge is a Level 9, Non-person felony involving funds greater than $1,000 but less than $25,000.
The other 14 counts of theft each involve sums that are less than $1,000 individually. All are Class A, Non-person Misdemeanors, according to information in the complaint.
Counts 15 through 28 all relate to alleged forgeries by Sanchez for checks on or cash withdrawals from the EHS Wrestling Parents Group’s bank account. The complaint states that Sanchez purported the transactions were made “with the authority of EHS Wrestling Parents Group who did not give such authority.”
Sanchez is free on a $7,500 surety bond. Her first appearance in court will be on Aug. 18 at 12:45 p.m.
According to district court files, Sanchez previously had been charged with forgery and theft by deception, valued less than $1,000, in a case involving renting a residence to college students. That case was filed on Sept. 13, 2006.
On Jan. 4, 2007, Sanchez pleaded no contest to an amended charge of attempted forgery. The charge alleging theft by deception was dismissed. She was found guilty of the amended charge and placed on probation.
Read the fuller story in Thursday's Gazette.
jcook66801 (anonymous) says...
1. I thought affidavits were closed court records. If so, how did the Gazette get ahold of this one.
2. If the charges were filed Aug. 4, why is the Gazette waiting until Aug. 12 to run a story? If the story is that big of a deal that it deserves to be played up like this (prominence on the page with a RED headline), why wait to publish it?
August 12, 2009 at 5:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
First death panels now wrestling clubs, what's next wood panels?
August 12, 2009 at 5:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
coldhardtruth (anonymous) says...
That's dirty, Sanchez.
August 12, 2009 at 6:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
positivethinker (anonymous) says...
jcook66801-
Surely you are not sticking up for this thief? This woman admitted guilt when she paid restitution. She needs to pay the price. Disgusting.
August 12, 2009 at 6:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
glarson (anonymous) says...
jcook:
1. Affidavits are closed records under the Kansas Open Records Act, UNLESS the district court opens them. Since the early 1980s, the Fifth Judicial District, which includes Lyon and Chase counties, has had a policy of opening affidavits. Individual exceptions have been made at the request of attorneys. All judges in the state of Kansas have the discretion to seal or unseal affidavits.
2. Even though charges are filed, in the Fifth Judicial District, the files are not public until the defendent has been served, either with a summons or an arrest warrant. It is my understanding that Ms. Sanchez was arrested on Tuesday. Once served, the paperwork went back to the court and was made a public record.
In neither case is The Gazette taking liberties that you, as John Q. Public, are not entitled to. Any individual can walk into Lyon County District Court during business hours, look up a case filing and ask to see the file. You will be handed whatever is open to the public on that case.
If you question our information, I encourage you to examine the file yourself at the district court office.
3. Any story uploaded to The Gazette's Web site and labeled as "breaking news" automatically posts to the top of the page with a red headline. We routinely use the "breaking news" designation any time we load a story after our regular print deadline. Later tonight, you will probably see an Emporia school board story show up as breaking news.
Gwen Larson
Managing Editor
August 12, 2009 at 7:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
howdo (anonymous) says...
I guess she told you.
August 12, 2009 at 8:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
Yeah but what's this about wood panels?
August 12, 2009 at 8:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jcook66801 (anonymous) says...
Yes she did. Thank you, Gwen, for the education. I might argue that it is not really breaking news (which used to be defined as an unforseen event that has an impact on a significant segment of the community). However, that is not worth the debate.
August 12, 2009 at 10:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
glarson (anonymous) says...
Jcook:
I would agree that Breaking News in my day meant the kinds of things you saw in the old movies with the kid on the street corner hawking an Extra edition.
For us, however, it's a way to distinguish on the Web site that we've put up a new story that you're seeing there first. We end up doing that with weather cancellations, county meetings as they happen, election results on Election Night, etc.
That's the beauty of new media... lots of choices for how to do things right and wrong!
Gwen
August 13, 2009 at 7:39 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
whatthe (anonymous) says...
what the ya thats right do people in this town have nothing better to do than dog people out. god help us all and yes its wrong what she did but i know this lady and she is a great mom and wife. she may have made some bad choices, but remember she has to face this and so do her kids so please back off people get a life
August 13, 2009 at 10:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
yev_kassem (anonymous) says...
whatthe--
Fact is she committed a crime and it is now public knowledge. The public needs to know because the next time this woman tries to run for treasurer of some volunteer board, the other members will think twice about it. Shem may be a nice lady but she is also a thief no matter how you look at it. And, taking something that isn't yours isn't very nice.
August 13, 2009 at 10:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
yev_kassem (anonymous) says...
coldhardtruth--
That is hilarious.
August 13, 2009 at 10:37 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
joejoe2 (anonymous) says...
You say she is a nice lady. But she now shows a pattern of doing this. What is your definition of nice? Anyone that has been involved with this lady know the real kind of person she is.
August 13, 2009 at 10:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
emporialifer (anonymous) says...
well said yev.
Doesn't matter how 'nice' a person is or how good a mom or wife - that doesn't excuse bad behavior.
She does have to face this and so does her family, but SHE is the one that brought that on - this is the consequence of HER action. Perhaps if she had thought about the consequences of getting caught, she might have thought twice because she wouldn't have wanted the embarrassment or for her kids to be put through this.
August 13, 2009 at 10:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
positivethinker (anonymous) says...
AMEN joejoe2 and emporialifer.
August 13, 2009 at 11:34 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
iamconcerned (anonymous) says...
Let's call it like it is--a thief is a thief. Mrs. Sanchez had a silmilar charge in 2006 and now 28 counts! She IS NOT the victim here, the rest of the EHS wrestlers and parents who worked hard to raise that money are, my sympathy is with them. She is responsible for her own actions and surely wasn't thinking of her family when she was pocketing that money. Would she have paid it back if she didn't get caught?
August 13, 2009 at 11:40 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sunshine (anonymous) says...
I am a mom of an EHS wrestler and I'm appalled. I can't believe she had anything at all to do with the money if she had similar charges brought against her previously. I am sure that she is a person that loves her children and husband, but I would not consider myself a good mom if I set that kind of example for my kids.
August 13, 2009 at 12:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
supernanny (anonymous) says...
Having read this, I remember hearing something from my child while they were out playing ball with others, That this family was having a fund raiser for the EHS wrestling team or her child not sure how it was addressed, back in their hometown. (where they lived before moving to Emporia) I wonder if that money was used to pay part of this back...Maybe that is something the gazette should dig into a little more, did she steal from others by lying to pay this debt back?
August 13, 2009 at 1:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sadinemporia (anonymous) says...
Nice one cold hard truth, the Gazette didn't even get it. Very funny! hehehe
August 13, 2009 at 5:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ilovechocolate (anonymous) says...
supernanny--
The fundraiser in her hometown was done by family there to raise the money for her son's camp. What she did was wrong, and she's been called to the mat, but why go on a witch hunt and encourage media or otherwise to go digging without any good or justifiable reason? How do you think her son would feel after working his tail off that weekend to help raise the money that sent him to camp?
August 13, 2009 at 10:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
supernanny (anonymous) says...
ilovechocolate- ok that is great if that was done for him to go to camp. But, if you were one of the people who donated to that and then read the article how do you think they feel? hmmm. I am glad she was called out on this. She deserves to be...think about all the other kids and parents that worked hard and she took their money.
August 14, 2009 at 9:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )