A former president of the Brighton Chamber of Commerce forged checks and improperly used a chamber credit card to pay cheerleading expenses for her daughter, travel, and to purchase clothes, groceries and other items, according to an arrest affidavit.
Holly Lee Hansen, 44, faces 76 counts of theft, forgery, and unauthorized use of a financial transaction device, in connection with $112,000 in forged checks and credit card purchases made for personal use from Jan. 8, 2014, to Dec. 23, 2016, the Seventeenth Judicial District Attorney’s Office said.
Hansen surrendered to Federal Heights police on Monday afternoon.
After chamber officials noticed discrepancies in a financial statement that Hansen submitted to the board in 2106, they began investigation into the books. They found large discrepancies, including “numerous credit card purchases made by Holly for her personal use,” the affidavit said.
Hansen at first said she mistakenly used the card, but only a few times. She later admitted to using it for personal use, and also moving money between chamber accounts and presenting altered financial statements to the board.
She submitted her resignation and said she was willing to reimburse the chamber using retirement money.
Further investigation found checks that appeared to be written to potentially fake companies, money missing from a petty cash fund and falsified invoices submitted to the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee regarding grants to the chamber.
Hansen submitted a spreadsheet that she said detailed the amounts she had used for personal expenses, the affidavit said. “When Holly was told the amount might exceed $100,000 she was surprised and stated there was no way it was that high.”
The chamber reported the fraud to the Brighton Police Department, which assigned an officer to the investigation.
Charges were “made to restaurants, department/specialty stores, as well as for travel and cheerleading expense. (Holly’s daughter … is a competitive cheerleader,)” the affidavit said.
Hansen is free on $10,000 bond and is due in court at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 27 in Division 6 of Adams County Court for formal advisement.
