TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – A Bullard woman is accused of using almost $100,000 worth of nonprofit funding on apps including an online casino.
Dawn Michelle Pitcock, 53, was booked into the Smith County Jail Monday on a charge of theft of property >=$30K<$150K. According to an arrest affidavit KLTV requested from the county, the investigation began when the Hand Up Network, a Tyler-based nonprofit organization, noticed a company debit card had been used at a Louisiana casino.
Hand Up’s CEO reported the fraud on Jan. 27, when he was alerted of two debit card uses at the Lake Charles casino. According to the affidavit, the man reported that the card was held by Pitcock, an accountant for the organization. She had reportedly claimed that she used the card by mistake, and paid back the two casino charges. However, the incident caused the CEO to look further into the purchases.
Upon further investigation, 283 transactions through Apple.com were found in the card’s history, dating back to March of 2024. These transactions totaled to $96,826.58. The CEO reported that none of the charges had been authorized by him or Hand Up.
After the CEO’s report, investigation allegedly found that subscription accounts tied to Pitcock’s name on two separate devices had made the purchases in question. The document says Apple showed the card had been used to buy virtual chips for an online casino game on multiple occasions.
The affidavit says Pitcock was questioned by investigators about the purchases, and she reportedly claimed her Apple account had been hacked, he iPad had been used by others, and her phone had been lost around the Hand Up store on several occasions. She later agreed that it was unlikely the purchases had been made this way, the document says, but she maintained ignorance of the crimes.
The document says Pitcock later confessed to the CEO to spending all of the stolen money, and she was later fired from the Hand Up Network.
A warrant was signed for Pitcock’s arrest on Friday. She bonded out of the jail Monday for $10,000.
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