HONOLULU—A man who served prison time for stealing millions of dollars from a Colorado couple has pleaded guilty to new charges of robbing the Salvation Army and four elderly donors of more than $300,000.
Timothy Peter Janusz, 44, a former fundraiser for the Salvation Army, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to 12 felony counts, including first-degree theft, forgery and money laundering. He had previously denied all of the charges.
“Mr. Janusz pled guilty to 12 very serious crimes,” city deputy prosecutor Chris Van Marter said. “He’s got a prior history of conning elderly people out of money. We’re going to be asking for prison.”
Janusz moved to Hawaii with his wife in 2003 after leaving a South Dakota prison for stealing $2.2 million from the elderly Colorado couple. Salvation Army officials in charge of the organization’s Hawaii activities said they had not known about Janusz’s criminal history.
Deputy Public Defender Craig Nagamine, Janusz’s lawyer, declined comment prior to sentencing. Janusz is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Steven Alm Nov. 26.
He admitted to taking money intended for the Salvation Army from donors between 2004 and 2006.
Holding degrees in law and business administration, Janusz was director of planned giving for the charity in Hawaii. He was fired when the allegations of wrongdoing surfaced.
The Salvation Army became aware of the transgressions after it receiving an anonymous e-mail accusing Janusz of stealing from the Salvation Army and defrauding the elderly.
Janusz also taught at the Aiea campus of Wayland Baptist University while in the islands.
Prosecutors credited Janusz for taking responsibility and saving the elderly victims, between the ages of 72 and 87, the inconvenience of coming to court and having to testify and relive their experiences as victims of fraud.
Police were able to recover $150,000 from Janusz, and the Salvation Army paid back the donors all of their money.
Since then, the organization has revamped its procedures to require criminal background checks for who come in contact with the public in general.
Earlier, the Salvation Army had only conducted background checks on employees who work with youths.
![[prison 19] Caption: This is Cellhouse 1, Pod A, from ground level inside the Sterling Correctional Facility which is located outside of Sterling, Colorado Thursday afternoon. Photographer: LEW SHERMAN Title: FREELANCE Credit: SPECIAL TO THE POST City: Sterling State: CO Country: USA Date: 19990617 ObjectName: prison 19 Keyword: PUBDATE____1999_06_22](/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20151207__denverpostp1.jpg?w=538 "20151207__denverpost~p1.jpg")
