A former board member of In The Life Atlanta, the non-profit group that helps organize Atlanta’s annual Black Gay Pride festival, allegedly embezzled more than $10,000 from the organization, according to a complaint ITLA leaders filed with the Atlanta Police Department.

ITLA officials refused to disclose the amount of money former treasurer Michael Slaughter is accused of bilking from the organization, but a Jan. 9 police incident report claims Slaughter stole $11,200 through embezzlement and theft by conversion.

According to the police document, ITLA Board President Kenneth Jones “reports that the treasurer stole $11,200 from the organization’s bank, via the organization’s debit card.”

Slaughter allegedly used ITLA finances at “Kroger, gas stations, Sprint and other places,” according to the report. The misallocation of funds sent ITLA into debt with many vendors that participated in last fall’s Black Gay Pride.

“That was the trigger, what alerted everyone — a series of bounced checks came in as we were paying our vendors,” said Anare Holmes, an ITLA board member and spokesperson, who declined to talk about how much was allegedly stolen from the group.

“We really can’t comment on that,” Holmes said. “We don’t have a figure to lock down at this time.”

When confronted, Slaughter allegedly admitted to the financial wrongdoing and agreed to pay the money back to ITLA, according to a Jan. 3 ITLA press release. Slaughter “is in the process of making restitution payments to the organization,” but ITLA’s remaining board members moved forward with filing a criminal complaint with Atlanta police against the former treasurer.

“The board voted to press charges against Michael Slaughter to send a clear message that In The Life Atlanta will not tolerate such behavior from its board members or volunteers,” the Jan. 3 press release stated.

Slaughter, who is also a former co-chair of the ITLA board of directors, declined an interview request, but e-mailed Southern Voice a statement expressing remorse.

“I truly regret and sincerely apologize to ITLA and the community,” Slaughter said. “It was never my intent to harm the organization or its ability to meet its commitments and goals.

“I have been fully committed to fulfilling the agreement that was made with the organization to pay back all funds in question, which will be completed by Jan. 12, 2008, one month earlier than planned,” said Slaughter, who added that he has $1,000 left to repay.

An APD officer has been assigned to investigate the embezzlement and theft by conversion charges against Slaughter, said Officer Darlene Harris, LGBT liaison for APD.

For decades, Labor Day weekend in Atlanta attracted thousands of black gay men and lesbians with parties and nightclubs comprising an informal Black Gay Pride. In 1996, ITLA formed, cast itself as the “official” organizer of Atlanta’s Black Gay Pride — considered one of the largest in the world — and attempted to infuse educational and empowerment activities into the annual weekend of parties.

Atlanta’s Black Gay Pride continues to be centered around clubbing. But with ITLA billing itself as the non-profit force behind Black Gay Pride, the group has been able to attract corporate sponsors and build a $45,000 operating budget for 2007.

One of ITLA’s most popular events is a Unity Picnic held with major party promoters in Piedmont Park on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. The first sign of financial irregularities came just days after the Unity Picnic, when about $900 in checks ITLA paid to seven off-duty APD officers were turned down, Harris said. “I started getting calls about two days after the event from [officers] that worked with me telling me their checks had bounced,” Harris said. “It was such a pleasure to work with [ITLA], and then in the long run, to have this happen in the end, it was more disheartening than anything because the event went off with a hitch.”

After the officers’ checks bounced, Jones, ITLA’s board president, met with each of the officers and “paid out of his pocket, basically,” Harris said.

“[ITLA] thought the monies that they had been receiving were being deposited, but those monies were indeed not being deposited,” Harris said.

After discovering Slaughter’s alleged pilfering of ITLA’s coffers, the group brought in an external auditor “to review and strengthen ITLA’s internal financial controls to ensure that funds entrusted with the group are properly used,” Holmes said. The organization is also reaching out to all of its sponsors to reassure them that investing in ITLA is safe, Holmes added.

“It’s always unfortunate when you go through something like this, but many organizations understand the process and how something like this could happen,” he said.

A transplant from California, Slaughter was actively involved with ITLA during much of his time in Atlanta. “The Michael Slaughter that I knew … was more of a giver to the organization,” said Darlene Hudson, former ITLA executive director. “He was the one who would say, ‘OK, I’ll put the money up until the sponsorship comes through.’”

While disappointed in Slaughter’s alleged misconduct, Hudson said she was also perplexed to see ITLA leadership publicly ostracizing a longtime board member who already agreed to repay the money he misappropriated, and for lacking the internal controls to prevent such spending in the first place.

“I think that any organization, if they intend to be successful, they need to make sure they have checks and balances or some system of evaluating,” said Hudson, who added that during her tenure as executive director, two ITLA board members were required to sign off on checks and monitor the group’s bank account. Holmes declined to discuss whether any other ITLA board members could be subject to investigation over misused funds, citing the pending investigation into the matter by Atlanta police.

Source link