MARION COUNTY, FL – On April 24, Ocala Police Detectives made contact with the executive director of Silver River Mentoring & Instruction—a nonprofit organization that provides mentoring and education to at-risk youth of Marion and Citrus counties—about an alleged organized fraud case. The executive director reported that the organization’s business manager, Danielle Liles, 41, had been stealing money since 2016 and had admitted to the fraud due to an upcoming financial audit.
According to the executive director’s statement, Ms. Liles arrived at the organization’s Citrus County location on April 21 to begin the financial audit. During the meeting, Ms. Liles allegedly admitted to giving herself extra paychecks since 2016 and provided records highlighting all of the extra checks she paid herself. Ms. Liles reportedly stated that she stole money from the company because she became addicted to it.
Detectives reviewed the initial documents provided by the company and asked them to have their accountant review all of their accounts to ensure that the information Ms. Liles provided was accurate. After further investigation, the accountant discovered additional fraudulent payments not included in the reports provided by Ms. Liles. It was discovered that since 2016, Ms. Liles had made 137 fraudulent checks to herself, totaling more than $766,000. The fraudulent payments were either additional checks that were outside of her normal paycheck or added money to her actual wage for the pay period.
On May 2, Ms. Liles turned herself in to the Marion County jail and was charged with felony organized fraud. According to the arrest report, Ms. Liles started her employment with the nonprofit in 2002.
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