A youth soccer coach wanted on over a dozen charges related to the disappearance of thousands of dollars in team funds was arrested over the weekend.
The Edmonton Police Service said Randy Knodel, 46, was found inside a vehicle in Sherwood Park on Saturday just after 6 a.m., and arrested by RCMP.
Knodel faces seven counts of fraud over $5,000, five counts of fraud under $5,000 and uttering a forged document.
He was the coach of the Selects Football Club U11 tier 1 boys team out of south Edmonton, which had fundraised for years to attend the Las Vegas Mayor’s Cup International Showcase on the weekend of Feb. 15 to 17.
The team of 20 boys, plus about 25 to 30 family members, were set to fly to Las Vegas.
However in the week leading up to the trip, for which the team raised around $60,000, it came to light that about $40,000 of those funds has disappeared, along with the team’s coach.
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Parents also discovered their flights and hotel were never booked and the team was never entered in to the competition in Nevada.
The parents launched a GoFundMe to try and raise new funds to attend the same tournament next year — where their entrance fee has already been waived in light of the situation — and/or to go to a different tournament in Minnesota this summer. As of publishing, the fundraiser has brought in nearly $60,000.
In the meantime, Knodel has been released on a promise to appear in court March 17.
— With a file from The Canadian Press
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