Pair Charged With Taking $1.1 Million From Fellowship of Christian Athletes

The former associate finance director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for more than 20 years and her husband were indicted Wednesday for allegedly embezzling more than $1.1 million from the organization in the last 7 1/2 years.

Thelma L. Alvarez, 46, and Frank J. Alvarez, 66, were charged in a 13-count indictment by a federal grand jury.

The indictment contends that between Jan. 1, 1979, and July 2, 1986, Mrs. Alvarez diverted more than 500 checks payable to the nonprofit organization to an account the couple maintained in the Mark Twain Bank in Kansas City. The checks totaled $1,129,437.

Most of the checks were from the FCA office in Marshall, Ind.

The money was deposited in an unauthorized account for the “Fellowship of Christian Athletes-Westside,” then was withdrawn by the couple for their own use, the indictment said.

The scheme was discovered in May when a bank cashier called John Erickson, president of FCA, with a minor question about the unauthorized account.

Realizing the organization did not have an account at that bank, Erickson began an investigation that was turned over to the FBI.

The indictment contends Mrs. Alvarez selected certain checks received at the Kansas City office from FCA organizations in other states, made entries indicating they were deposited in the organization’s authorized bank account at Blue Ridge Bank, and then deposited them in the secret account.

The indictment said Alvarez represented himself as an officer of FCA and made periodic withdrawals from the secret account.

If convicted, the Alvarezes face a maximum penalty of 125 years in prison and fines totaling $1.8 million.