Woman charged with defrauding theatre group

CHEYENNE (WNE) — A woman who worked as the bookkeeper for a local nonprofit theater has been charged in federal court with five counts of wire fraud. 
Carrisa J. Dunn-Pollard is accused of defrauding Cheyenne Little Theatre Players Inc. of more than $250,000 over about two years, according to documents filed last week in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming. 
Dunn-Pollard allegedly “diverted the financial assets of the Theatre for her own personal use and falsified financial records to hide her scheme,” the criminal complaint says. 
She worked for the theater group part time and was responsible for keeping financial records, according to the complaint. 
Dunn-Pollard was arrested Tuesday and appeared before Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Kelly Rankin in Cheyenne that afternoon, according to court papers. 
A preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 15 in Cheyenne. 
The theater approached law enforcement in May about “the suspected theft of at least $255,500” by Dunn-Pollard, according to a probable cause statement by Russell Sparks, a special agent with the U.S. Secret Service. 
Dunn-Pollard had been the bookkeeper for CLTP since May 2016 and was the only person responsible for the theater’s accounting software. 
Representatives of the theater reported “multiple unusual transfers of funds” from Sept. 20, 2020, through May 2022 “between the Theater’s bank accounts, as well as multiple transfers out of the Theater’s general funds account to an outside and unknown bank account.” 
Sparks determined that the unknown account belonged to Dunn-Pollard and her husband. Between May 23, 2019, and April 27, 2022, 111 “payroll deposits” totaling $278,550 were allegedly made into the account from the theater’s bank account. 
Theater representatives told law enforcement these deposits weren’t authorized by anyone in the organization. 
 
This story was published on Dec. 1, 2022.