Authorities investigating a stolen- goods report say they unraveled an elaborate fraud by a former official from Habitat for Humanity to bilk the charity of more than $100,000.
Former construction manager Donald McBee is accused of using dummy companies to steer money from Habitat for Humanity of Eagle and Lake Counties into his personal accounts, according to the Eagle Police Department. They said he created phony invoices for work and goods that never existed.
McBee, 61, of Fairplay, was arrested last week on a charge of felony theft. He is free on $100,000 bond and could not be reached for comment.
Court records show a $50,000 federal tax lien from Massachusetts was filed against McBee in December, and a $116,122 child-support lien was filed in Park County in 2006.
He has been sued several times by creditors, records show.
John Welaj, executive director of the local Habitat chapter, said McBee was an employee from February 2005 to August 2007.
“Since 2007, Habitat has updated a number of financial systems and procedures, including hiring an outside accounting firm and an independent audit firm in 2008,” he said.
According to tax records, the Avon-based chapter, one of 31 in the state, raised $932,824 in donations and grants in 2009, the latest year tax records are available.
The case began as a stolen-goods report June 15, when an Eagle businessman told police Habitat for Humanity was selling a trailer he thought had been stolen from him, which a police investigation confirmed.
Habitat for Humanity records indicated the trailer was purchased from a Leadville company called Encompass for $6,000. Encompass turned out to be a name-only business allegedly set up by McBee, police said.
McBee’s personal bank account also was linked to a business called Santa Fe Lopez Concrete, a real company owned by someone else, according to investigators.
Habitat for Humanity had written several checks to Santa Fe Lopez Concrete and Encompass.
“At no time while McBee was employed by Habitat for Humanity did anyone else know of his connection to Encompass or Santa Fe Lopez Concrete,” police said in a statement.
Court records show McBee was charged with assault and false imprisonment in Park County in 2006, though the charges were dropped. He was charged with felony theft in Park County in 2004, but those charges also were dropped, records show.
