Largo police arrested the former president of the Down Syndrome Network of Tampa Bay.
Shirley Lawyer is charged with stealing the organization’s money. Her arrest affidavit is here.
For months now, 8 On Your Side has raised questions about where the organization’s money was and how it was being used.
Largo police claim Lawyer stole about $111,000 dollars of the DSNTB’s money.
They charge she used the money for goods, services and payments that went either directly to her, her family or a business that she owned and operated.
Tonight she is in the Pinellas County Jail.
In October 8 On Your Side asked Lawyer if she could account for all the money donated to the organization.
“I can, matter of fact I am delivering some more information to um, a person who requested, um, very shortly,” Lawyer explained.
Lawyer might have accounted for all the money donated to the Down Syndrome Network of Tampa Bay, but Largo police didn’t like what they found.
After several months of investigation, they determined that from January 2010 to December 2014, Lawyer used about $111,000 on herself, her family and her business.
Lawyer admitted to 8 On Your Side, that she and she alone determined how the organization’s money was to be used.
“I was able to make those decision on my own,” she said.
Under her direction, the IRS revoked DSNT’s charitable status for failing to file tax returns for at least three consecutive years.
Ron Girard, the grandfather of a child with Down Syndrome, became suspicious when he claims Lawyer told him there was no money available to provide services to Bay-area families.
“It’s totally unfair. Everyone I talked to who asked for services from Shirley was denied, they were told there’s no money, there’s no money,” Girard said.
Girard filed a complaint with the Largo Police Department.
In January we learned Lawyer resigned her position as president and handed the organization’s finances over to its vice president and treasurer.
According to Largo police, Lawyer spent the money donated to assist families with children born with Down Syndrome on personal expenses and other payments, without the knowledge of the organization’s other officers, treasurer Clay Tyson, and vice president Vicki Milliron.
Lawyer called them her silent partners.
Neither Tyson nor Milliron have responded to 8 On Your Side’s questions.
Girard is hopeful the organization can move forward and develop into a network that can truly help people who need it.
“It’s about time,” Girard said of Lawyer’s arrest.