Former nonprofit director charged with embezzlement
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A federal grand jury has indicted the former executive director of a Dubois County nonprofit on 15 counts of wire fraud. U.S. Attorney Zach Myers’ office said Tuesday that Ellen Corn of Petersburg allegedly embezzled more than $156,000 from Jasper-based Mentors for Youth.
Corn served as executive director for the nonprofit, formerly a chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters, from March 2017 to August 2022.
According to court documents, Corn allegedly used an organizational credit card for personal expenses, including purchasing goods from Amazon, Target and Walmart, as well as making payments payments to colleges.
Corn allegedly would make electronic payments from the nonprofit’s PayPal account to her personal PayPal account, which would then be transferred to her personal checking account.
Mentors for Youth issued the following statement following news of the indictment.
“Our mission to facilitate relationships between local youth and caring adults has positively impacted innumerable individuals in this community. As we process the news of the arrest of our former director, we remain focused on this mission. Though deeply saddened by the actions of this individual, we are grateful for the members of both our local and federal law enforcement for their time and dedication to this investigation. We are also incredibly thankful for all the local partner organizations and community members that assisted us in becoming a stronger agency. Since uncovering this issue, we have worked hard to make substantive changes to ensure our policies and procedures will prevent this from occurring in the future. While our work in serving at-risk children was never compromised, we are genuinely sorry for any distress this may have caused. We will live up to our organization’s mission by ensuring transparency, accountability, and integrity. As we move forward, we are determined to support more youth in our community.“
The grand jury indictment was unsealed on Monday after Corn was arrested and made her initial court appearance. Myers’ office said Corn faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the wire fraud charges.