 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Popular soccer coach accused of stealing
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG -- A popular volunteer coach for the Azalea Youth Soccer League is facing charges of embezzling thousands of dollars from two teams and the concession stand he helped to run. But in a brief telephone conversation Tuesday, Ronald Faw, 48, who coached an under-10 and an under-15 girls team, denied taking the money. "I can't talk much about it," he said, "because it is going to be resolved later this month.' On April 29, Faw is scheduled to appear at a pretrial hearing on grand theft charges. League officials accuse Faw of embezzling about $10,000 in registration fees and concession sales during the 2001-2002 soccer season. "In his teams, he was the one that was collecting the money," said Al Bartolotta, president of the Azalea soccer league, which is one of the largest in Pinellas County. "We had projected about $4,300 owed from the under-10 and $2,900 owed to us from the under-15. For the concession stand, we had a total of $3,700 unaccounted for," Bartolotta said. Additionally, he said, league officials estimated that $4,000 was missing from the organization's Octoberfest Tournament concession sales. "The total came to about $14,800," Bartolotta said. When expenses and a payment of $1,100 to the league were deducted, the organization estimated that it was missing $10,465. Faw, who lives at 8281 86th Ave. N, in Largo, was arrested on Feb. 6. An arrest affidavit states that the coach admitted taking $6,000. Faw, whose daughter was a member of the under-15 team, began coaching at Azalea in the 2000-2001 season. The league has an enrollment of 1,000 boys and girls, ages 4 to 18, in recreational and competitive programs. Faw coached two competitive teams, where the cost for members to register was $400 a season. "Apparently he was taking money from them, which was okay, but he had to see that it got to the treasurer. We kept asking. We made calls, and we just kept asking," Bartolotta said. "Before the season started, we asked him to open an account at Republic Bank and deposit the money, and that was never done." Board member Jill Iacopelli is angry. "He took money from both the girls teams," she said. "It's a shame when you start stealing from kids. We're never going to get this money back." In December, board members took over the concession stand. In January, the board voted to remove Faw from his coaching position. That was not an easy action to take, Bartolotta said. "I tried to give him every benefit of the doubt. I think he was a good coach and seemed to have an excellent rapport with the kids. He was very popular with the kids. He was very likable. Both his teams were very successful," Bartolotta said. In fact, after a victory last fall, Faw let his under-10 team shave his full head of hair. "This is only the second time in my 15 years of coaching that I actually had to have my head shaved, but it was worth it," Faw told Neighborhood Times then. Despite his popularity, league officials felt they had no choice but to let Faw go. They met with parents, some of whom had been writing checks directly to the coach. The league is improving its financial oversight, Bartolotta said. "We are definitely going to institute some changes," he said. The organization has weathered the loss, officials said. "We kept the teams together and tried to make everything right for the girls," Mrs. Iacopelli said. "We had enough (money) to get through the season. Our treasurer is very good at managing the money," Bartolotta said. "The thing that really hurts is that basically you operate on the trust of the parents. When something like this happens, it's not good."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times South Pinellas desks |
