The former leader of a San Antonio-area branch of the United Way faces a felony charge after she was accused of stealing more than $150,000 from the nonprofit.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou Hargrave, 65, former executive director of the\u00a0Guadalupe County United Way, was arrested on\u00a0Dec. 23, according to jail records.<\/p>\n
Hargrave, who currently lives in Utah,\u00a0faces a charge theft of property between $150,000 and $300,000 from a nonprofit organization, according to an arrest warrant from the Seguin Police Department.<\/p>\n
HILL COUNTRY:Feds investigating Hill Country plane crash that killed one person<\/a><\/p>\n The United Way is a Virginia-based nonprofit that operates around the world and “seeks to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good,” according to its website.<\/p>\n In July, the president of the Guadalupe County United Way’s board of directors told\u00a0Seguin police that money was missing from an operational account, according to the warrant.<\/p>\n The warrant alleges that between December 2023 and June 2025,\u00a0Hargrave – who became the nonprofit’s executive director in 2018 \u00a0–\u00a0took $158,000 from\u00a0the nonprofit through\u00a0“unauthorized debit card charges, cash withdrawals, checks issued to herself and additional payroll checks issued to herself.”<\/p>\n An audit found that that Hargrave had moved $117,000 from the United Way’s money market account to its operational account in an attempt to “cover the cost of her\u00a0spending,” according to the arrest warrant.<\/p>\n The Guadalupe County United Way’s board did not have a treasurer after December 2023, according to the warrant.\u00a0Hargrave moved to Utah that same month, where she worked remotely.<\/p>\n Hargrave was “operating without oversight” and “working remotely with no one nearby to question her actions,” the warrant said.<\/p>\n Many of the unauthorized transactions on the Guadalupe County United Way’s operational account were Amazon purchases, according to the warrant. A subpoena granting access to\u00a0Hargave’s Amazon account show that items purchased with the United Way’s debit card were delivered to her Utah address, according to the warrant.<\/p>\n HILL COUNTRY: Months after flood, almost all of Kerrville River Trail is open again<\/a><\/p>\n