Tuck’s tearful explanation
‘There is nothing we can say or do to change what we’ve done’
David Tuck promised he’d do everything he can to make it right as he was interviewed by city police right after being charged with fraud over $5,000 for misusing funds intended for the special needs hockey team he co-founded with his wife, Catherine.
“It’s our screw-up. Not the Peterborough Huskies. Don’t blame the Huskies. It’s not their fault,” he told Det. Const. Keith Calderwood during a Nov. 2, 2016 audio/video statement played as the Tucks’ trial continued Tuesday in Peterborough Ontario Court of Justice.
Then David did something he admitted he hadn’t done in 30 years – he cried.
“It hurts the most,” he sobbed near the end of the 80-minute recorded exchange with the lead investigator and member of the service’s financial crimes unit. “There is nothing we can say or do to change what we’ve done.”
David didn’t become emotional until he told the officer how he didn’t want those who had utilized the team’s services to be affected.
“This was me (sic) and Cathy’s mistake. This was on us. Not on them,” he said, after earlier saying he couldn’t deny the misuse of Huskies’ funds.
Calderwood, who took the witness stand Monday, testified that investigators found no financial documents or money related to the Huskies when they executed a search warrant on the Tuck’s Denne Cres. home earlier that day.
He asked David to explain why over a period of three years, there had been $32,347 in cash withdrawals from the team’s bank account – to which the Tucks had sole signing rights – with no receipts or ledgers showing where it had been spent.
“We screwed up. Majorly. To what total extent, I don’t know,” David said, indicating that if he could, he would take sole responsibility. “I’m going to be apologizing until the cows come home. But if that’s what I have to do, that’s what I will do.”
David told Calderwood the Huskies email account was “not set up” to receive donations and that’s why e-transfers went into his own bank account.
Presented with the same information the officer shared with his wife earlier, he said he was speechless and “sickened by all of this.” Asked how much Huskies money the Tucks spent on themselves, David said he would need time to figure it out.
Calderwood pointed out that the more than $32,000 wasn’t “chump change.”
“That’s two years of my paycheque,” David replied. “All I can say, until I sit down and go over this, is I have no idea ... I’m just lost for words. That amount just floors me. I can’t believe that amount.”
Calderwood asked David if a $5,000 donation from Costco should have covered the cost of ice time for the Huskies in Bewdley, which had been suspended over non-payment.
“I believe it should have,” he said, before being asked to explain. “I just don’t know the timelines.”
When Calderwood said people want answers, David said people deserve them and told the officer what he would say to parents.
“What could I say? We will make it right. We didn’t do this to be fraudulent.”
The Tucks should have had more people on the Huskies board of directors and given others signing authority, to boost accountability, David agreed.
“This grew so fast, so quickly for us,” he said. “If this doesn’t kill the Huskies ... and God, I hope it doesn’t, there will be changes.”
David also told Calderwood the $1,200 fundraised by Lucas Heard, who testified Monday afternoon, went to the team. “That went to his niece, to play hockey ... to play baseball.”
Asked about a trip he took with a friend to the Daytona 500, David told Calderwood he had saved up the $8,500 he spent on his own. He paid some $260 in gas to drive there, but his friend covered the cost of their hotel.
David also spoke about how the Tucks formed the non-profit organization after his experience volunteering with another special needs organization, the Kawartha Komets, led him to believe there was a need for another group.
He didn’t expect it to grow as fast as it did. The team grew from eight players to nearly 60 in its three years of existence, court heard earlier.
The Huskies have since rebranded as the Electric City Maroon and White.
In Catherine’s same-day audiovideo statement with Calderwood played earlier, she said she believed a third or more of the money donated or fundraised for the Huskies was used to support the Tucks’ personal expenses.
Both Tucks also said, in their statements, that the Special Hockey International the team was to host last March was separate from the team.
The trial, which is being heard by Madam Justice Jennifer Broderick, continues Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. before a break until May 15 and 16 to give the defence time to review recently-received disclosure.