Treasurer of Calgary girls fastball association accused of embezzling thousands from team accounts

The former treasurer of a Calgary girls fastball association is accused of embezzling thousands of dollars, and is now facing charges, according to police.

Investigators say the woman served as vice president and a treasurer of the association’s board from 2019 to June 2023. She officially became treasurer in 2021 after finishing her term as VP.

In these positions, she was given access to the group’s bank accounts and had signing authority for those accounts.

Last June, the board’s president and vice president noticed something was off with their financials when a cheque written for a tournament fee was returned due to insufficient funds.

Police say the two board members reviewed the association’s bank statements and found the woman had been sending e-transfers from its accounts to her personal accounts and deposited cheques written to and signed by herself.

They also found the association’s accounts had negative balances, and it owed several thousand dollars to various vendors that she was responsible for paying on the group’s behalf.

The suspected fraud was reported to police a few days later.

A lengthy investigation by police found the woman had embezzled more than $125,000 between 2021 and 2023 by depositing cheques and e-transfers from the group’s accounts into three separate bank accounts held in her name.

Forty-five-year-old Leilani Calmusky is now facing one count of breach of trust and one count of defrauding a person over $5,000.

She is set to appear in court on Tuesday, Dec. 10.

Businesses that have lost money due to fraud are encouraged to report it to police.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact police by calling 403-266-1234 or tipping anonymously through CrimeStoppers.