FRANKLINVILLE, N.Y. — The president of a Franklinville Little League organization is facing multiple felony charges for allegedly stealing $140,000 from the organization over a three-and-a-half-year period between 2016 and 2019.
Harley L. Butler is charged with third-degree grand larceny and six counts of first-degree falsifying business records, class E felonies. Additionally, Butler was also charged with second-degree grand larceny, which is a Class C felony, and six counts of second-degree forgery, which is a Class D felony.
Franklinville Police Chief Mark Slavanski says he started looking into the Little League after a sporting goods store in Olean called and asked the department to help recover money from a bounced check Butler allegedly wrote.
"Instead of just calling them and saying, 'Hey, pay it,' you know, I kind of looked into it a little bit, and I thought, 'That's odd,' " Slavinski said. "Come to find out, you know, there it was, it wasn't just that business, there's actually several."
Slavinski said he started issuing subpoenas once he began discovering inconsistencies.
"I went back four years with the audit," Slavinski said.
The Franklinville Police Department received help from the Cattaraugus County District Attorney's office investigators, as well as the New York State Police Financial Crimes Unit.
Slavinski said that the Little League organization also received thousands of dollars in grants to improve the fields from Cattaraugus County and that those funds were also allegedly tampered with.
"He was president [of the Little League] for a very long time of Franklinville," Slavinski said. "He was looked upon. You know, he was a great coach, a lot of people looked up to him."
Butler was given an appearance ticket for a future court date after his arrest.