Grand jury: Woman embezzled thousands

A Swissvale woman who was a low- level employee of a nonprofit that aids minority businesses forged her supervisor’s signature on checks and withdrew company money from ATMs, embezzling more than $ 321,000 over three years, a federal grand jury has alleged.

Danielle Strother- Rush was charged under seal Aug. 6 with six counts of bank fraud and three counts of mail fraud in connection with the money missing from the Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council, which has operations in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Ms. Strother- Rush, 32, a former accounting coordinator with the nonprofit, had her initial appearance Monday in U. S. District Court in Pittsburgh.

She called the accusations “untrue” in a brief phone interview. “Obviously, we’re fighting against these allegations,” Ms. Strother- Rush said. “I’m a mom, and I’m trying to get this all straightened out. It’s going to affect my child.”

She was released on $ 20,000 unsecured bond. The case was unsealed Tuesday.

Valarie J. Cofield, the nonprofit’s president and CEO, said it does not appear that any of the funds can be recovered. She said that the loss of funds has been a serious blow to the organization, which develops business opportunities for minorityowned enterprises.

“It’s been significant. But we’ve also been able to work diligently to recover and continue the mission of the organization despite the financial losses,” Ms. Cofield said.

The nonprofit’s 2017 tax filing with the IRS, the most recent available, showed just under $ 106,000 in net assets and annual expenses of roughly $ 1 million.

The indictment accuses Ms. Strother- Rush of making more than 100 checks payable to herself and drawn on the organization’s accounts at PNC Bank. It said she forged the signature of her supervisor, and “often included false descriptions that purported to be legitimate business expenses on the memo lines of the checks.”

Investigators said they identified 26 forged checks worth $ 126,513.12 that were withdrawn from one of the nonprofit’s accounts; 75 forged checks worth $ 139,881.76 from another account; and 15 online checks worth $ 41,035 that came from a payroll account at Citizens Bank that were mailed to Ms. Strother-Rush’s house and either cashed or deposited into her personal account, according to the indictment.

Ms. Strother- Rush also used a debit card to make 26 ATM withdrawals of nearly $ 14,000 from the PNC account without authorization — 21 of them at Rivers Casino on the North Shore, according to the indictment.

Ms. Cofield described Ms. Strother- Rush as a “fairly low- level” employee and said that she discovered the missing funds through looking at bank statements.

Ms. Strother- Rush worked for the nonprofit from summer 2014 to August 2016. She was put on unpaid administrative leave but resigned prior to termination, Ms. Cofield said.

She said that her organization continues its work.

“One person’s misdeeds are not going to take us off course in our mission.”