The Quinte Humane Society is a non-profit that relies solely on donations, but when one of its donors contacted the organization in January asking for a receipt for income tax purposes, a quick search of the non-profit’s database found that a cheque from that person was never received.
The would-be donor then sent the Humane Society a copy of the cheque they claimed to have sent. That’s when staff noticed that someone else — who doesn’t work for the Quinte Humane Society — had deposited the funds in their own bank account, and police were notified.
“We had hoped it was an isolated incident,” Quinte Humane Society executive director Frank Rockett said. “Unfortunately, towards the end of February, we discovered three more cheques from donors that had been cashed and not gone into our account.”
Rockett estimates that as many as 20 donation cheques worth “several thousand” dollars were stolen and cashed before making their way to the Quinte Humane Society.
“Obviously, we’re quite concerned for our donors and the animals who, unfortunately, desperately need these funds to make sure operations go smoothly and that they have all the resources they need,” he said.
Belleville police are investigating the incidents but were unavailable for comment.
Anyone who has donated to the Quinte Humane Society and not received a tax receipt is asked to contact police as well as the Humane Society.