Seeley man charged with embezzlement

SEELEY LAKE –Kody Kelley of Seeley Lake plead not guilty May 28 to a felony charge of theft of property exceeding $1,500 by embezzlement.

According to charging documents, on March 21, Seeley Lake Volunteer Fire Foundation President Michael Richards stated that Kelley, the Foundation’s treasurer, used the Foundation’s debit card for personal purchases and money withdrawals.

Kelley had been the Foundation’s treasurer since February or March of 2018. When Kelley stopped providing financial statements and coming to the Foundation’s meeting, Richards started to question things. Although Kelley did not initially respond to Richards’ request for the checkbooks and debit card, he did finally turn the records over through 2018.

In the court documents, Richards explained that the Foundation held a special meeting March 8. At the meeting Kelley admitted to using the debit card to cover personal expenses stating it only happened ‘a couple of times’ and he was trying to pay the money back. Kelley told the Foundation the amount in question was around $800.

Richards asked that Kelley highlight all his personal expenses in the bank statements and return them to the Foundation. Kelley highlighted $1,880.44 in personal transactions. After the Foundation board met again in March 13, they noted an additional $2,498.77 in suspicious charges that had not been highlighted by Kelley.

Missoula County Sergeant Robert Parcell met with Kelley March 23 as reported in the charging documents. Kelley admitted to using the Foundation debit card for personal transactions reiterating the amount of $1,880.44. When presented with the additional $2,498.77 in suspicious charges highlighted by the Foundation Board, Kelley agreed to provide as much explanations for the purchases as possible.

The charging documents stated that Kelley returned the list of charges to Parcell March 27 with explanations. The list was returned to Richards who refuted all but $114.98 of the charges. Many of the charges that were refuted were due to dates not lining up with explanation given.

Parcell determined the total loss to the Foundation was $4,264.23, as filed in District Court April 14.

Kelley, who was a lieutenant on the Seeley Lake Volunteer Fire Department and worked part time as the facilities maintenance position, is no longer a volunteer or employee of the Department.