Harrah youth basketball program left with no money for programs, scholarships after treasurer allegedly embezzles nearly $30k
HARRAH, Okla. (KFOR)— A little league basketball program will be unable to follow its yearly tradition of providing its players with college scholarships this year, after Harrah Police say the program’s treasurer drained the league’s bank account—spending it all at restaurants, stores, and much more.
“Coffee shops, Instacart, PayPal, AT&T bills.”
Those were just a few of the things and places that Harrah Police Chief, Marty Burns, told News 4 Kaylynn Taylor spent more than $27,000 that belonged to the Harrah Little League Basketball Association over the past year.
“A lot of these a lot of these were very obviously not basketball-related,” Burns said.
Burns says his department first started investigating after the Association’s president reported to police that the Association’s bank account had been nearly drained of all funds.
“There was about $2 left in the account,” Burns said.
Burns said only two people had access to the Association’s bank account: the president, who reported the missing money, and the treasurer, Kaylynn Taylor.
“Ms. Taylor did have one of the association credit cards,” he said.
Burns said Harrah detectives started looking through the Association’s bank records, where they found more than $27,000 worth of transactions in the past year on things including gas, groceries, restaurants, coffee shops, house cleaning, vape shops, Apple, DoorDash, Nintendo, Dollar General, Walgreens, Target, a tattoo shop, and more.
They also found cash app transfers from the account, made payable to someone named “Kaylynn Taber,” and ATM withdrawals signed by a “Kaylynn Taber.”
Burns says his detectives believe “Kaylynn Taber” was really just Kaylynn Taylor using a different name.
“We were able to determine that a lot of those withdrawals looked as if they had been made by Ms. Taylor,” Burns said. “And the evidence supported that.”
He said the league has virtually no money left to spend on its necessities.
“They use the money to help with concessions,” he said. “This how they pay for the referees, and they pay for the insurance that is needed for the kids to play basketball.”
Harrah Police arrested Taylor earlier this week on suspicion of embezzlement.
Burns says detectives are still working on their investigation.
Once they finish investigating, they will refer the case to the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office, who will decide if Taylor should be formally charged.
News 4 reached out to Taylor on Friday.
She responded, saying she’d been advised not to speak with reporters.
Harrah Little League Basketball Association’s president sent News 4 a statement Friday, saying:
Our hearts are broken that someone that we trusted would steal, not just from us, but ultimately from our young athletes and families. Every year we have been able to provide a safe place for our kids to learn and play the game of basketball. Each year we also have been able to give college scholarships to 2 high school seniors, as well as giving back to the elementary schools, whether that a monetary gift or by purchasing equipment their gyms might need. These are ways for us to give back to our basketball and school community. Now, all of that is off the table while we try to get back on our feet. It’s just really sad. We will come together, stronger, and will hopefully find a way to keep providing these things for our community.
President of Harrah Little League Basketball Association
Burns says he is also hopeful the community can come through.
“I have no doubt that our community will take up for these children and their association and we'll make sure that they are getting taken care of,” he said.