Waukesha Police This Week Charged a Woman for Cases of Fraud Which Took Place in 2010 and 2011
This week, a woman in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin was charged with using a charity to collect false donations. The charges against her stem from a couple of so-called charity events she organized three and four years ago.
In 2010 and 2011, people in Waukesha, Wisconsin attended “Rock and Ride for the Troops” benefits on Memorial Day. The foundation hosted the events and claimed to be collecting money to support U.S. troops on their return home from combat. Hundreds of people attended the benefit concerts and thousands of dollars were collected.
Thousands in Donations during Recession
This was at the height of the Global Recession. Most people did not have the excess cash to be giving it away, though they were willing to contribute to help soldiers and their families in a time of need. Yet it turns out none of that cash made it to veterans of foreign wars.
Master Z’s Cue Club Owner Had Suspicions
Greg Zettlemeier, the former owner of the bar at which the event was centered, says he and his people spent a lot of time and money preparing for the event. They placed tents outside Master Z’s Cue Club, then took $20 a head to raise cash for the Walking Wounded foundation. Zettlemeier said he and his people felt like they were doing a great thing for American soldiers–and so did the people who attended the event.
At the end of the second event at Master Z’s Cue Club, though, Zettlemeier said he began to have doubts about the event’s organizer, Denise Rupcic. The next day, he checked with the people at the Wounded Warrior project and found that Rupcic had never sent the foundation any money. Greg Zettlemeier took his concerns to the authorities.
Police Investigation Found Other Scams
When police began to investigate, they found other suspicious activity. For instance, Denise Rupcic had held events to raise money for herself, under a charity foundation called “Dee’s Fight”. She claimed she had breast cancer and therefore needed money to handle the expenses of a long battle with cancer.
Police learned no such medical bills existed. When they asked Rupcic what happened, she claimed that she used the money for dental surgery. Investigators began to look into that angle, but what they eventually found surprised even them.
Traced Financial Activity to Indian Casino
When they began to cross-reference Denise Rupcic’s withdrawals from ATM machines around the time of the charity events, they found they coincided with ATM withdrawals at the Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee, Casino. It became clear to them that the Denise Rupcic was using the charity money to feed her gambling habit.
This allowed police to gain a search warrant. When they investigated the woman’s home, they found autographed photos of area athletes, which appear to have been part of another scam. Apparently, she had had athletes autograph photos which were supposed to be used for silent auction or awards ceremonies, but were never awarded to anyone. Police found stacks of the photos when they searched Rupcic’s home.
Whose Pocket Did It Go In?
Greg Zettlemeier told the local news, “Whose pocket did that really go in? It leaves you with a big empty void in the bottom of your stomach. I just can’t imagine that anybody would stoop that low.”
Gambling Related Cases of Fraud and Embezzlement
Investigators will tell people that problem gamblers often use desperate means to cover their gambling debts. Just this year, a Nevada bureaucrat was found using his office to buy equipment and have its shipped to a government facility. The man then would take the equipment home and sell it for a discount, then used it to pay off his gambling debts. The functionary might have stolen over $100,000 that way, and only got caught when a delivery arrived unexpectedly while he was on vacation.
In an Ohio case earlier this year, a Cincinnati lawyer and his wife were found guilty of using legal funds to gamble at a casino across the state line. The lawyer eventually was convicted.
In Australia in 2013, a housing constructor was found guilty of embezzling over $200 thousand in housing funds to feed his habit. The man built homes and would bilk his customer of tens of thousands of dollars, essentially using one customer to pay off his debts while work went unfinished.
Stealing from Soldiers and Cancer Patients
Seldom, though, has a compulsive gambler stooped so low as to run bogus charity operations for wounded soldiers. Few things seem lower than to use Americans’ goodness to take their money under false pretenses, when they believe they are giving money away to wounded and needy veterans (and their families). Perhaps pretending to have cancer in order to scam people out of money is worse. The scam artist may think this is a victimless crime, but the people donating might have donated to other causes with the money they spent. Some certainly would have. The scammer is literally stealing from wounded soldiers and real cancer patients.
Of course, desperate gamblers are not the only ones who have tried this kind of tactic. After the 9/11 attacks, dozens of charities sprung up to collect money for the family’s of those affected by the September 11 tragedies. Telethons with the biggest celebrities were televised and local benefits were held in a thousand American communities. Much of that money went to help struggling families, but later reports showed that over a billion dollars never made it to the charities they claimed to serve.
