High School Sports

Eagle River youth hockey group vows to play on despite alleged theft

The president of the Mustang Hockey Association, Joey Merrick, said the close-knit hockey community was caught off guard by the alleged theft of the association's funds, but he plans to move ahead despite the setback.

"We're going to move forward but we're definitely affected — no question," said Merrick. "We don't have a great reserve of money."

Jennifer Suchan, 33, the former volunteer treasurer of Mustang Hockey, has been charged with two felonies: first-degree theft and scheme to defraud, for allegedly stealing more than $180,000 from the association.

[Treasurer for youth hockey organization charged with $180K in theft, Anchorage police say]

The charges against Suchan contain much of the same information released by Anchorage police on Monday about the alleged theft but offer a few new details.

The charges say Merrick discovered the thefts while reviewing the association's bank accounts online. He noticed several cash withdrawals appearing multiple times.

"Merrick immediately knew that there should not be any cash withdrawals from this account," the charges say.

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That discovery prompted Merrick to go back through past account statements, and he discovered Suchan was withdrawing the money, as well as cashing checks from the account, according to the charges.

Merrick handed over bank statements, withdrawal slips and checks to the police. He also provided a spreadsheet to investigators, showing unauthorized cash withdrawals totaling $14,475 and unauthorized checks, which make up the bulk of the alleged thefts at $167,509, according to the charges.

The charges list the withdrawals and include memos offering reasons for why the money was taken out. "Office expenses," "MHA overhead" and "Contract labor" are among them.

On June 20, detectives visited Suchan's Chugiak home and questioned her. She "admitted that she had written checks to herself and obtained cash withdrawals on the hockey association account to catch up on her personal bills," the charges say.

When asked about how much she believed she had taken, Suchan told police $30,000.

Merrick said the alleged thefts shocked him as well as the parents of the kids who participate in Mustang Hockey, which operates in Eagle River and Chugiak. The association is run solely on the work of volunteers, with the exception of a part-time office manager.

Suchan is mother to one of the hockey players, and she was part of the tight-knit community, Merrick said.

"We didn't have any suspicion that this was going on until it was discovered," Merrick said.

A lot of the parents have called Merrick asking why the association had so much money in the bank.

"There was never $180,000 in the bank at a single point in time," he said. "That's not what that number represents. It represents how much was stolen from the parents and the kids of the association over the last two years."

A main expense of Mustang Hockey is paying for ice time, Merrick said. He said the association spends in excess of $250,000 a year making sure the association's several teams get about 700 hours at various ice rinks.

Even with the loss of the funds, Merrick said he plans to move forward with an upcoming registration and keep the organization strong.

"A lot of people make sacrifices so their kids can play hockey, and the parents are upset, as they should be. The money was stolen from everybody."

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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