The former finance director of a St. Louis charity has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for stealing about $700,000 from her former employer.
U.S. District Judge Rodney Sippel handed out the 40-month sentence to Joelle Fouse on Thursday. She will also have to pay back the money she stole.
For more than a decade, Fouse, 58, worked for Promise Community Homes, which provides housing to adults with intellectual disabilities. Over that period, she diverted money to personal expenses, like vacations and clothes, then falsified records to cover up the theft. Federal prosecutors also discovered that she had lied about having an accounting degree.
The theft, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith wrote in a sentencing memo, deprived the residents of resources they needed despite Fouse’s “generous salary and benefits.”
The charity’s executive director, Matt Elmore, said in a letter to Sippel that the money Fouse stole could have been used to install a ramp for a resident who could no longer handle stairs or make needed repairs to its properties.
The hardest part, Elmore wrote, had been rebuilding Promise Community Homes’ reputation.
“We are now forced to spend valuable time and resources reassuring donors — many of whom have supported us for decades — that we remain trustworthy and financially stable. Every hour we spend restoring confidence is an hour not spent serving our residents,” he said.
