Letter to the Editor: Article unclear about funding

Dear Editor,

Your article in the 9/8/22 issue entitled “Non-Profit Scrutiny” on page one and continued on page 3 with the title “Fraudulent activity with federal funds poses risk to Sweetwater County” is incorrect and should be retracted.

The embezzled funds were private funds from families whose children were enrolled in the RS-YAHC Early Learning Center, not federal, state, county, or any other governmental funds as inferred in your article. The federal funds in question are those that Rachelle Morris obtained through her sham LLC under the pretense of covid-19 business interruption. Your article does not make this connection clear!!

Furthermore, the RSYAHC is audited annually by all grant providers to ensure proper use of those government grants.

In addition, we have a local CPA firm that conducts an audit or review of our financials on an annual basis.

I suggest that you contact our board chair, myself, or Clark Stith, our legal counsel, to get the correct facts in the proper context rather than opinions from ill-informed or misguided county commissioners.

To say the least, the alleged embezzlement is an unfortunate occurrence. Going forward we will make the necessary changes to ensure this will not happen again, as the RSYAHC provides needed services to the community of Rock Springs and the surrounding area.

Kevin Maloney

Rock Springs

Editor’s Note:

The article “Non-Profit Scrutiny,” published in the Sept. 8 issue, reported on that week’s Board of County Commissioners meeting and the concerns commissioners expressed regarding oversight over federal funds provided to local organizations by the county.

The article never stated or, in our opinion, implied that the funds Candace Rachelle Morris allegedly embezzled from Rock Springs Young at Heart came from grants or federal funds. The article simply reported what the county commissioners said in their discussion.

The Star’s original article on RSYAH’s civil complaint against Morris, published in the July 28 issue, explained how the funds RSYAH claims Morris embezzled came from tuition paid by families for children in the Early Learning Center, including going into detail about Morris’s extra bank account and fake LLC company as explained in the lawsuit.

Recent updates concerning Morris also seem to imply that Morris may have allegedly embezzled federal grant funds as well as the tuition payments. The press release from the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office reporting Morris’s arrest, shared in the Star’s Sept. 15 issue, states: “Through the course of the months-long criminal investigation, sheriff’s detectives discovered that, from 2016 to present, during her tenure as Young at Heart’s executive director, Morris is believed to have stolen nearly $2.3 million in daycare tuition fees and federal COVID-related grant funds.”

With respect for Rock Springs Young at Heart and its board and staff members, the Star stands by its reporting on this ongoing case, as well as its reporting on the commissioners’ discussion regarding the case.