An Ohio man who authorities said embezzled more than $125,000 from a Kensington, Connecticut non-profit that uses search and rescue dogs to look for missing people was sentenced to home confinement and probation.
Thomas Recck, 52, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was sentenced Monday to five years of probation and will have to serve the first six months in home confinement, federal authorities said. He was also ordered to perform 600 hours of community service while on probation.
Recck, a former New Britain resident, was the treasurer for Connecticut Canine Search and Rescue, Inc., a volunteer-based organization that searches for and rescues missing and lost people in the United States by using trained search and rescue dogs, according to federal authorities.
In his role, Recck had access to the non-profit’s bank accounts and he was accused of transferring more than $125,000 from the non-profit’s accounts to his own for gambling and personal expenses between January 2008 and August 2012, according to officials, who said he also never reported the stolen funds on his federal tax returns.
Recck pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return and was ordered to pay $125,649.77 in restitution, as well as back taxes, penalties and interest for the 2008 through 2012 tax years.
