Former treasurer of Iowa City Girls Softball Association convicted of embezzling funds

IOWA CITY — A Coralville woman pleaded to lesser charges and faces up to five years next month for stealing nearly $30,000 over a period of three years from the Iowa City Girls Softball Association.

Laura Margaret Mangrich, 42, the former treasurer of the association, pleaded in July to second-degree theft, a felony, and unauthorized use of a credit card, an aggravated misdemeanor. The other charge of first-degree fraudulent practice will be dismissed at sentencing, according to the plea agreement.

Mangrich was the treasurer between January 2020 and January 2024. She stole $29,569 between May 19, 2020 and Oct. 30, 2023, according to a criminal complaint.

According to a search warrant affidavit, the association’s new treasurer, Janeen Van Etten, appointed in January 2023, reported the alleged embezzlement to Iowa City police. In March, the association’s board started asking Mangrich for account statements and reports and Mangrich refused to provide those.

She was the only person listed on the association’s bank account and the only person who had access to the funds.

After Van Etten was appointed treasurer, she requested the association’s account be transferred to her and the president, Scott Frerich, court documents stated. Mangrich then created a new account and transferred over about $25,000 to it. Mangrich then “misled” Van Etten and Frerich by letting them think they were being added to the original account, in an attempt to conceal past transactions and discrepancies, according to the warrant.

Eventually Van Etten and Frerich went to the bank themselves to access the association’s account and found two, which had “numerous misappropriations” of funds, including cash withdrawals, unauthorized debit card use, cash app transactions and checks made out to Mangrich.

They estimated the loss to the association between $22,000 — $30,000, according to court documents.

An investigator said there were 91 transactions on the accounts, which appeared to be misappropriated by Mangrich, totaling $28,749, which included $25,810 in cash withdrawals, the warrant stated. Van Etten and Frerich told police there would be no reason for the treasurer to withdraw any cash from the accounts. The association didn’t use cash to pay for anything.

She also falsified an end-of-year report in 2022 to hide her thefts, according to the criminal complaint.

According to a 2020 public tax form, the nonprofit’s net assets at the end of the year were $54,194. Mangrich’s position and other board member positions were unpaid.

The association, in a statement after Mangrich was charged, said Mangrich “was able to secure sole access to the organization’s bank account, remove key safeguards that were in place to track our income and expenditures, and allegedly embezzle almost $30,000. That someone would target a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to empower young women and girls was both shocking and disappointing.”

According to the plea agreement, Mangrich paid full restitution of $29,569 on July 23.

The plea agreement will ask the court to run the five-year and two-year sentences concurrently for a total of up to five years in prison. Mangrich will ask for a deferred judgment and probation and the prosecution will ask for suspended sentences and probation, the plea stated.

If Mangrich receives a deferred judgment, she can have the convictions eventually expunged from her record if she has no probation violations and after she pays any court fines and fees owed.

Her sentencing is set for Sept. 16 in Johnson County District Court.

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