Independence High School booster club treasurer accused of theft

A woman who was in charge of the bank accounts for a high school athletics booster club has been accused of taking money for her own personal uses, according to law enforcement.

On Monday, November 25, officers with the Independence Police Department arrested Jennifer Reuther, 47, and charged her with ongoing criminal conduct, a class B felony, and first-degree theft, a class C felony.

According to a criminal complaint against Reuther filed in Buchanan County District Court, Independence Police received a call on July 11, 2019, from Capital Services, a South Dakota-based card asset management company. They alerted the department of a suspicious check allegedly written by Reuther on a Mustang Athletic Boosters account, payable to Reuther's personal line of credit with a memo line "booster card."

In an interview with Reuther, police said she told them that the check was intended to pay off the booster club's credit card. However, police said the booster club does not have any lines of credit to its name.

Police said that Reuther allegedly admitted to writing a check made out to cash for $764, which she then cashed. She was not able to tell police what happened to the money, telling them that "it's gone." Reuther told investigators that discrepancies in the accounts were mistakes.

Based on interviews with booster club members and bank records that were subpeonaed, investigators believe that Reuther misreported money that the booster club took in, falsified reports she made as the group's treasurer, and wrote multiple reimbursement checks to herself.

Police said that the checks made out to Reuther totaled $11,243.70 along with checks to cash for $924. In addition, police alleged that she made $14,230 in cash withdrawals from the booster club's debit card as well as shorting deposits to the club's accounts by $2,842.

Altogether, police said that the total money stolen from the boosters was at least $32,717.30. The alleged theft took place between June 2015 and August 2019.

Reuther's next court appearance is on December 11, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. in Buchanan County District Court. She is out of jail on a $30,000 cash bond.