Soccer coach accused of theft

LIMERICK >> A former coach of a Limerick youth soccer league must answer to charges in Montgomery County Court that he allegedly siphoned more than $10,000 from the organization, placing fees that were paid by parents in his personal accounts.

Joshua David Harris Brown, 31, waived his preliminary hearing before District Court Judge Richard H. Welsh of Limerick on charges of forgery, misapplication of entrusted property and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received in connection with alleged incidents that occurred while he coached a team for the West Mont United Soccer Association.

Brown, who remains free on $100,000 unsecured bail, faces a formal arraignment hearing

on the charges in county court on Dec. 11.

“Obviously, this is an egregious crime to steal from children. He stole from children. He was in a position of trust and from what I understand he was a well-liked coach,” said county Assistant District Attorney Christopher Evan Daniels.

The arrest affidavit alleged the total theft amounted to about $10,945 but didn’t reveal what Brown did with the stolen funds.

Daniels said as the case moves forward a priority for prosecutors will be to try to make the soccer association whole.

“(The funds) are certainly necessary for this soccer club,” Daniels said.

“It has a deep history, a lot of children have actually played in this soccer association over the years and the club’s going to need that money to pay for the tournaments and practices and all of the other accessories that are needed for this club,” Daniels added.

An investigation of Brown began in July, when Limerick police were contacted by members of the soccer association who reported they discovered Brown “has been taking payments from families and keeping the funds for himself,” according to the criminal complaint filed by Limerick Police Sergeant Paul Marchese.

Association officials told police they became aware of the alleged thefts when the balances of several families showed non-payment in their accounts, reportedly for such things as dues, workout clinics and tournaments.

Soccer association officials contacted the families and discovered that the families issued personal checks to Brown to pay for their soccer accounts and that some of the checks had the “PAY TO THE ORDER OF” section altered to name Brown as the recipient instead of the soccer association, according to the criminal complaint.

Investigators obtained a warrant to search Brown’s bank accounts and found that 22 checks were misdirected into Brown’s accounts and that many of them “were altered” in order to be deposited into Brown’s personal account, according to court papers.

“I contacted the victims and they confirm that payments were to go to West Mont United Soccer Association and they did not authorize any altering of the checks,” Marchese alleged in the arrest affidavit.

Brown is represented by defense lawyer Andrew Laird of Trappe, according to court records.

“Obviously, this is an egregious crime to steal from children.”

- Montgomery County Prosecutor Christopher Evan Daniels