Embezzlement accusation

Rock Springs Young at Heart (RSYAH) has filed a civil suit against Candace Rachelle Morris, the center's former executive director, for embezzling funds from the center. The total amount of funds Morris allegedly embezzled could be over $1 million.

According to the complaint, Morris created a false business, set up a separate bank account, and used an internet-based payment processor in order to funnel money away from the Early Learning Center. 

A hearing was held in the case July 14, during which Young at Heart, represented by Clark Stith, "presented credible evidence of damages in the amount of approximately $1,025,249.38 for which Defendant Candace Rachelle Morris is indebted to RSYAH," according to court documents. 

The complaint was filed in Sweetwater County district court, and Judge Richard L. Lavery is presiding over the case. 

No criminal charges had been filed against Morris as of press time. Chief Deputy County Attorney Teresa Tybo said a criminal investigation is ongoing.

The original civil complaint, filed July 5, is against Morris, her husband William Morris, and the Early Learning Center, LLC, which is the company Morris created. The complaint lists offenses including conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, negligent misrepresentation, fraud, constructive trust, fraudulent conveyance and unjust enrichment.

Young at Heart is a nonprofit corporation in Rock Springs which serves as a senior citizen center and operates a daycare service, the Early Learning Center (ELC). Morris, a Green River resident, worked as the director of the ELC for years, and her plans to divert funds from the ELC began in 2016, according to RSYAH's filed complaint. 

Jeanine Cox announced her retirement as RSYAH's executive director at the beginning of 2016, and Morris allegedly sought to be appointed as executive director. The RSYAH board hired Ryan Rust instead. 

"Morris was disappointed that she was not picked to be the RSYAH executive director," the complaint says, based on testimony of affidavit statements filed with the complaint. 

After Rust's appointment, Morris allegedly suggested to him that "it is unusual for a senior citizens center to operate a daycare facility for small children," and the Early Learning Center should be a separate company she would own and control which would pay RSYAH for the use of the facility.

While the RSYAH board of directors considered this option, Morris began taking steps toward separating the ELC, according to the complaint. In June 2016 she created what the complaint refers to as the "Phony ELC," a Wyoming limited liability company, by filing articles of organization with the Wyoming Secretary of State. She also applied for an employer identification number with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), listing herself as the "sole member" of the company. Morris then opened a bank account with Bank of America under the name of the Early Learning Center, LLC.

"The Early Learning Center, LLC conducts no legitimate business," the complaint alleges of the Phony ELC. "Its sole purpose is to act as a vehicle for a fraudulent scheme perpetrated by Defendant Candace R. Morris to defraud RSYAH of revenue generated by its child day care service. Candace R. Morris named it the Early Learning Center, LLC for the purpose of sowing confusion with their parties so that it could pretend to be the legitimate Early Learning Center that provides day care services for the children of Sweetwater County and which is owned and operated by RSYAH." 

In September 2016, Morris applied for an account with an internet payment processor called Tuition Express and provided a voided check in the name of the Phony ELC for the Bank of America account, listing her home address in Green River for the address. This meant all payments from Real ELC parents paid through Tuition Express went to the bank account Morris set up. 

Morris also listed her husband William Morris as a co-owner of the Phony ELC, and Tuition Express documents have signatures for both, although the complaint specifies "RSYAH does not have knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief" on William Morris's involvement and whether he signed the documents or his wife forged his signature.

William Morris later claimed in an affidavit that his wife had forged his signature on some documents. 

In October 2016, the RSYAH board rejected Morris's proposal to separate the Real ELC and RSYAH as different organizations.

"Having been thwarted in her efforts to obtain ownership and control of the Real ELC with RSYAH board consent, Morris embarked upon a scheme to defraud the RSYAH," the complaint states. "Her scheme was simple: she would have the parents of children attending the Real ELC enroll in a new, internet app based payment system called 'Tuition Express.'" 

The complaint alleges Morris began using Tuition Express to charge parents enrolling children at the Real ELC in the fall of 2016, "thus diverting revenue that should have gone to the Real ELC to the Phony ELC." 

In 2020, after Rust left RSYAH, Morris was promoted to the position of executive director by the board of trustees. Brianna Romero was hired as the new ELC director and was instructed by Morris to encourage parents to sign up to pay through the Tuition Express app, according to the complaint. 

Romero was aware of the Bank of America account the funds went into, but Misty Wilson, the RSYAH bookkeeper, was unaware of the account, so Morris "discouraged communication" between Romero and Wilson, according to the complaint. Morris allegedly also told Romero not to speak with the board. 

"Through her payment diversion scam, between January 1, 2018 and June 23, 2022, Morris embezzled $970,060.50 from RSYAH," the complaint said, noting at the time data for 2016 and 2017 had not yet been made available. 

"Morris used funds embezzled from the Real ELC to support a lavish lifestyle, spending approximately $410,000 on a variety of vehicles, including a 2022 Jeep Wagoneer, a 2020 Jeep, a 2021 Cadillac Escalade, a 2021 Toyota pickup and a 2018 Mercedes convertible," the complaint states. "Morris embezzled much more each year than her $68,000 salary, raking in an average of $215,569 per year since January 2018 in embezzled funds through her payment diversion scheme." 

The complaint also specifies none of the funds embezzled by Morris have been paid to RSYAH, "the rightful owner of those funds." 

Morris' embezzlement was discovered at the end of June, when she was away on vacation, the complaint alleges. Board Chairman Suzette Williams and Board treasurer Kevin Maloney were reviewing accounts payable by the Real ELC when Maloney questioned an annual insurance premium that wasn't being paid, and he was told the Real ELC's bank account was nearly depleted. 

"As tuition payments for the Real ELC would have been recently paid by parents, Williams and Maloney thought it strange for the RSYAH Commerce Bank account to be low," the complaint states.

Romero explained the tuition went to a Bank of America account, which was the first time anyone from the board had heard about the second bank account. 

"Williams called Morris, who initially denied any knowledge of the Bank of America account," the complaint says. "During a second conversation on the same day, however, Morris admitted that she knew of the Bank of America Account where funds had been diverted to the Phony ELC." 

Williams said in an affidavit statement that Morris "said she was sorry." 

On June 27, the RSYAH board met for a special, emergency meeting and suspended Morris without pay pending further investigation. Williams invited Morris to another special board meeting on July 1 to explain her actions, but Morris declined to attend. 

"The RSYAH board met on July 1, 2022 and, in Morris's absence, terminated her for cause," the complaint explained. 

Brianna Romero is the current Interim Executive Director and Early Learning Center Director.

Court documents in the case docket also indicate Morris and her husband William Morris sold three of the five vehicles purchased with embezzled funds to Fremont Motors on July 2, a day after Morris was terminated. The sales went through July 5, the same day the complaint was filed. Documents indicate Morris didn't disclose she was being investigated for embezzlement, and that she and William said they were a married couple planning to get divorced. 

Court documents filed after the hearing indicate two of the vehicles Morris bought have been seized by the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office.