Ex-employee charged with embezzling more than $600K from Madison nonprofit

An ex-employee is accused of embezzling more than $640,000 from the Goodman Community Center in Madison.

Dewayne L. Powell faces a total of nine felony counts after prosecutors say he misused the nonprofit’s credit cards and cashed fraudulent checks.

He’s due on Feb. 27 in Dane County Circuit Court for an initial appearance on multiple charges of theft and forgery.

A criminal complaint filed this week details hundreds of thousands of dollars in unauthorized spending between April 2021 and June 2024 . That includes thousands of dollars spent at casinos, hotels and restaurants. 

Powell also used the nonprofit’s money to pay phone bills for his family and to send Venmo payments to his live-in girlfriend, according to the criminal complaint.

When she was interviewed by investigators, Powell’s girlfriend admitted that her boyfriend “likes to gamble”

But she “dropped her phone on the table in surprise and appeared truly shocked” when a detective told her Powell had been covering the couple’s rent and other personal expenses using Goodman Community Center credit cards, the criminal complaint says.

Powell, 42, told investigators he was first hired by the Goodman Community Center in 2010 and was promoted several times until he became the vice president of business and finance — a role he held until he was fired in June of last year.

That’s after Lake Ridge Bank flagged some suspicious checks connected to Powell, prompting the center’s Executive Director Letesha Nelson to initiate a closer look at the nonprofit’s financial records.

“Authorities confirm the charges focus on an isolated matter that did not involve anyone else at our center,” a statement released this week on behalf of Nelson and the center’s board said. “The activities of the individual named in the complaint surfaced following an internal records review, revealing serious financial inconsistencies and impropriety. We promptly removed the individual from their role at the center and immediately shared this information with the Madison Police Department and cooperated fully in their investigation.”

The center has made changes to improve its internal financial controls, and has since hired a forensic accounting firm. That firm found the fraudulent spending didn’t come from grant money or restricted donor funds, according to the center’s statement.

The Goodman Community Center offers an array of programming for children and older adults. It also oversees a food pantry and serves as a venue for weddings and other events.

In the 2023 fiscal year, the organization reported having $10.1 million in expenses while taking in $10.6 million in revenue.

“As a community organization with 70 years of service to our families, we are heartbroken by this situation,” the center’s statement said. “This has been a violation of our trust and a breach of the goodness of those who support Goodman. Rest assured, we will move forward together in strength. We won’t let the wrongdoings of one individual define our legacy, good work, programs and people that make our center essential for so many in Madison.”

Powell could not immediately be reached for comment. As of Thursday, he did not yet have an attorney listed in court records.