Former Goodwill CEO arrested, accused of stealing more than $1 million from the nonprofit

By Nijzel Dotson and Lee Anne Denyer

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KCRA) — A former Goodwill Sacramento CEO was arrested on Thursday and is accused of stealing more than $1 million from the nonprofit organization.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California said that a federal grand jury returned an indictment on Nov. 16 against 45-year-old Richard Alan Abrusci, who was in charge of the Goodwill Sacramento Valley and Northern Nevada.

Abrusci, from South Lake Tahoe, has been charged with nine counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and three counts of monetary transactions with proceeds of specified unlawful activity.

During an initial court appearance on Thursday, Abrusci pleaded not guilty and was and was released.

Goodwill Sacramento said it tipped off authorities to the fraud after internal audits and an investigation.

“Goodwill itself as an organization is based upon good will and this was a real breaking of the good will by this CEO. The allegations against him are serious. We urged the federal prosecutors to pursue him to the fullest extent of the law,” said Sam Singer, a spokesperson for Goodwill.

Singer said the impacted funds did not come from donors but from state funding. He said new policies and procedures have been implemented under a new CEO to ensure this does not happen again.

The Justice Department cited court documents in saying Abrusci began working for Goodwill in 2014 and officially became CEO in 2016 and president and CEO in 2018.

Abrusci had Goodwill and one of its subsidiaries pay approximately $1.4 million to Resolution Arrangement Services between 2016 and 2021, according to the DOJ. Resolution Arrangement Services was a fictitious business name registered by Abrusci in 2008 that was connected to a bank account he opened the same year.

The DOJ said Abrusci used various false documents such as invoices and purchase orders to hide fraudulent payments into the Resolution Arrangement Services bank accounts. Abrusci allegedly once used a forged letter he said was written by an attorney to convince the company’s chief financial officer to pay Resolution Arrangement Services $55,000 under pretenses related to a lawsuit.

According to the DOJ, those payments were supposedly for information technology services, assisting Goodwill with managing call centers for the state of California during the COVID-19 pandemic and facilitating a settlement for the aforementioned lawsuit.

None of the services Goodwill and its subsidiary were billed for by Abrusci’s fraudulent business were provided, the DOJ said.

Goodwill Sacramento said in a statement to KCRA 3 that an initial audit that prompted the internal investigation happened in 2021.

After the investigation, Abrusci was immediately terminated from the company’s board of directors and the Sacramento County district attorney was notified, Goodwill said. Sacramento’s DA contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office which then led to Abrusci’s indictment.

If Abrusci is convicted he would face a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the nine counts of wire fraud. He also faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

Goodwill Sacramento operates 39 retail stores, including four outlets, and 26 donation Xpress locations across Northern California and Northern Nevada.

A status conference on the case was set for Feb. 8.

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