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EDMONTON -- An alleged $315,000 embezzlement has left a non-profit group in shock.
"It's really a breach of trust, and that hurts," said Laurie Danielson, executive director of the Northeast Capital Industrial Association.
Cops yesterday charged former director David Gordon Onuczko with theft over $5,000 and fraud over $5,000 for allegedly tucking away the cash during the last three years of his almost seven-year tenure.
The NCIA's members are corporations in Fort Saskatchewan, Strathcona, Lamont and Sturgeon counties.
Together, they represent $25 billion worth of plants and employ 3,200 people, according to the association's website.
But even the powerful, business-savvy member companies didn't see the alleged swindle coming, said Danielson.
"(We) were shocked and disappointed, more shocked than disappointed," he said.
"We've gone over this numerous times since.
"There was not a lightning rod or a-ha moment that would have given us pause."
But the accusations suggest a long and deep deception.
Cops allege Onuczko embezzled from the association between August 2004 and December 2007.
He was the only full-time, paid employee and had power to make financial decisions, said Danielson.
He also drafted the annual reports and financial statements over those years.
He seemed "very capable from an office administrator perspective," said Danielson. "Certainly not a superstar, but capable."
Just one month after he left the association -- shuffled out as the association looked for a leader with "more horsepower" -- the provincial government's corporate registry came knocking, said Danielson.
"Our association was going to be dissolved if we didn't file audited financial statements," he said. "We assumed that was done."
As they dug up the documents needed to file, the embezzlement came to light, he said.
The board has since stripped the executive director position of all financial decision-making power, said Danielson.
"It affected our ability to fund projects we would normally fund," he said.
Projects lost in 2008 included studies on ground water and noise management on industrial sites.
"We did some of those, but not to a full extent," he said.
Onuczko will appear July 30 in Fort Saskatchewan court.
RICHARD.LIEBRECHT@SUNMEDIA.CA