Little League’s Big Problem: $123,000 missing, undocumented spending, and the leadership overseeing it all
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - Two million kids play every year. They do so in 80 countries and in all 50 states. It's been a national pastime since 1939. But today Little League has a big problem. It’s widespread. And the biggest curveball was thrown in Colorado Springs this off-season.
Investigators: $123,000 stolen from Academy Little League
Michele Gorr was charged with money laundering and theft in October, accused of stealing more than $123,000 from the Academy Little League in Colorado Springs where she was a long-time volunteer treasurer. According to court documents, Gorr allegedly spent the money on shopping and travel before trying to launder the money through her employer where she was a controller for a large company.
Court documents say Gorr used the money at Old Navy, Target, Southwest Airlines, Lululemon, and Kate Spade Outlet-- just to name a few. A majority of the money was funneled through her personal PayPal account according to investigators. Notably, the documents say Gorr admitted to using the league’s bank account for personal reasons, saying she needed money for legal bills while going through a “contentious divorce.”
Gorr agreed to sit down with KRDO13’s Josh Helmuth for an interview but changed her mind right before her most recent court appearance. Helmuth texted her the questions that would have been asked during the interview. Gorr responded with a lengthy email, not answering Helmuth’s questions, but did insinuate a "debilitating alcohol problem” played a role in the theft. She also noted her divorce and said that she’s trying to “rebuild her life.”
Helmuth was able to catch Gorr leaving court on Feb. 11 to ask her at least a couple of those unanswered questions including where the money went and if Gorr has anything to say to the parents and kids of the Academy Little League.
Gorr stayed silent. Her attorney, Patricia Perello, responded several times, “No comment.”
Documents say Gorr’s theft went on for a year and a half until Jacob Larkee was brought in as the new league president in December 2023.
“I got involved because I was a concerned parent,” said Larkee.
He quickly noticed the league’s finances were striking out.
“You end up with, sometimes, a group of just a couple of people that control a lot of things within the league and that's when that financial accountability and transparency can start to erode,” he said. “It can jeopardize the entire existence of the league."
“It becomes difficult to purchase jerseys. It becomes difficult to have the money to reserve fields and give players the best baseball experience possible,” he said.
And the balk within the Academy Little League isn’t unique. KRDO13 Investigates discovered 50 court cases involving Little League going back 30 years, and over 40 news stories involving youth sports embezzlement just within the last five years; many of the cases involved trusted adults stealing from their local Little League.
Claim: $40,000 in undocumented expenditures in High Plains (Falcon) Little League
“I have some pretty big concerns about this league and nobody will even listen to me,” said Carey Jones.
Jones and Tyler Chubb were vice presidents on the board of directors for the High Plains Little League in Falcon before being kicked off the board last month. They claim they were booted after simply asking Board President Jared Holtz for receipts.
They claim there is roughly $40,000 in undocumented expenditures.
“It's spent somewhere. But I want to know what we purchased from that,” said Chubb.
Jones says there’s been very little to no proper protocol regarding finances within the league, leaving way too many questions unanswered.
“There's never been any budget. There's never been any approval for any purchase ever made. And like I said, there's no receipts that have been checked,” said Jones. “It comes from gift cards. It comes from the raffles. It comes from the spending. It comes from the cash withdrawals. It comes from conflict of interest. We can’t even get a phone call back."
While still on the board, Chubb says he got a response from the Little League West Region office in California, saying they are “taking the matter seriously,” and that if “documentation isn’t provided to the treasurer, the board should take action.”
Little League’s website walks local presidents and boards through proper financial protocol, several titled "Don’t Let This Happen." The recommendations given include: not giving spouses independent access to financial accounts, dual signatures on checks, having a third-party certified public accountant who also serves as an auditor, board pre-approved expenditures, receipts for all purchases, and most importantly, transparency-- all of which Chubb and Jones say were never in place at High Plains.
They say they were promised an audit to look into the undocumented spending, but they’ve never seen it.
KRDO13 Investigates also asked Little League about that audit, several times, and were never given an answer.
The response from Little League, the district administrator, and the league president
KRDO13 Investigates' Helmuth tried calling Jared Holtz, the president of High Plains Little League, several times as well. Holtz wouldn’t respond to a request for an interview, nor give us an update on the audit, simply sending a text saying “HPLL is healthy and thriving and ready for another great season.”
Little League International, also declined an interview, simply sending a vague statement, pointing us to their online resources regarding Little League finances and suspected embezzlement, saying they’ll “work directly with and support the leadership of our local leagues throughout the area.”
So who is local leadership?
That leadership would be District Administrator Mike Sedillos, who Helmuth spoke with on the phone.
“Jared [Holtz] took over this league [High Plains] when it was totally unorganized and that’s part of the problem with the receipts,” said Sedillos. “This has gone on too long ... they won’t even share with me information."
The leader of Colorado Little Leagues accused of stealing $250,000
Sedillos has been the District 5 leader for more than 25 years, in charge of overseeing 9 Little Leagues in Colorado, including High Plains and Academy. But according to this 12-page Westword article from 1999, Sedillos was also accused of stealing money. It says $250,000 was lost under Sedillos’ watch while running the Southwest Denver Little League in the late 90s.
The article says Sedillos sued the league before the completed investigation and won a settlement. He was never charged and the Southwest Denver Little League dissolved five years later.
We requested the court documents from Denver District Court but they told KRDO13 Investigates they’ve been destroyed due to the age of the case.
Helmuth called Sedillos again to ask about the 1998 case, and the allegations surrounding it, but we never heard back. Unfortunately, Little League informed KRDO13 Investigates that Sedillos passed away unexpectedly on Feb. 6.
KRDO13 Investigates was able to verify the article's accuracy from two people who were part of the case.
“What happens is, one day somebody wakes up, somebody finds, ‘Oh my God, where’d the money go?’ That's what happens,” said John Incampo, an investigator with the 1st Judicial District Attorney’s Office covering Jefferson and Gilpin counties.
Incampo has nearly 40 years of experience working on investigations, like the Sedillos case. He knows how easy it is for someone to embezzle money out of a Little League without proper oversight.
“They need to have segregation of duties. They need to have one person open up the mail and check the bills ... Another person who signs the check and another person to review the checks that are going out,” he said.
Incanto added, “Sometimes people have financial problems and they tend to look at that money as kind of like, you know, well, ‘I can borrow from there. I'll pay it back. Borrow from there, pay it back.’ Well, they never end up paying back."
Questions surrounding other Colorado leagues
KRDO13 Investigates reached out to other Little League leaders in Colorado and asked if they’ve had issues with stolen or missing money.
Cliff Deffke, the Colorado District 2 administrator in the Denver metro responded he’s “aware of one instance in which a board member embezzled Little League funds. That was 10-12 years ago.”
Dana Palmer, assistant district administrator from the Grand Mesa Little League in Grand Junction responded, “A lot of speculation but nothing anyone could prove!”
Bottom line: the people hurt are the kids
“It can jeopardize the entire existence of the league,” said Larkee.
Larkee noted missing money makes it difficult to buy jerseys and reserve fields, possibly the two largest expenditures for many little leagues.
Chubb and Jones say missing money prevents leagues from improving training and the overall Little League experience.
“Of that money, we could have bought cages. We could have bought a lot of different things to teach kids baseball better,” said Chubb.
Jones added, “You could offer more scholarships. You could have lower registration costs. You can make it more affordable, easier for families to be able to play in this league.”
Little League encourages local leaders to sign their leagues up for crime insurance. However, any missing or stolen money must be reported and submitted with a claim to AIG within six months of the discovery, and the reimbursement only goes up to $35,000, according to the Little League website.
What's next?
Larkee says he has an entire new board at Academy and they’ve worked hard for 100 percent transparency while instituting all of Little League’s recommended checks and balances. He’s even coaching other local presidents on how to setup leagues properly. He says their crime insurance has recouped some of the losses from the missing $123,000.
“When I came on, my step number one was looking into the finances and trying to understand [them]. And we did that. We conducted that audit. We found some of those transactions that are working through CSPD right now, and we have put the league in a much better place,” said Larkee.
“I'm doing a lot to to help as much as I can with the other leagues around here. And as I learn things, I pass that on to other league presidents to hopefully, you know, get things back on track for everybody,” he said.
Chubb and Jones have taken their kids out of the High Plains Little League. They’ve also filed a complaint with the Colorado Attorney General’s office.
“It's far too easy [to steal],” said Jones. “Because, at least when you look at our board, it's predominantly all the same friends ... If someone suspects someone is doing something wrong they won’t question it."
“What it comes down to is Little League needs to be able to enforce those standards,” he said.
As for Gorr, her plea hearing is scheduled for March 18.
