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Fitch Hall of Fame under investigation for questionable transactions
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
Township police are investigating claims of questionable transactions in the bank account of a booster organization affiliated with Fitch High School.
“We got a tip from several residents that there was something inappropriate going on with the Austintown Fitch Hall of Fame,” said Austintown schools Superintendent Vincent Colaluca.
The district looked into the matter and informed township police. The amount of money involved was not disclosed by police or Colaluca on Wednesday.
According to the police report, money was taken from a bank account and an undetermined number of checks were forged between April 1 and Tuesday, when the report was filed.
But the report was heavily redacted and did not offer much more detail. That’s because no one has been charged as the probe continues, said Capt. Bryan Kloss.
The Fitch Hall of Fame is a booster organization that is not run directly by the school district.
“The only thing we do is give them the authority to use our name,” Colaluca said. The school district also hosts the organization’s website, which has not been updated since 2009.
The superintendent also said he believes the group has been around since 2007 and it was started by alumni.
The current Fitch Hall of Fame chairman, Marty Dyer, had just learned of the investigation Wednesday when reached for comment by The Vindicator.
“I just found out about it 10 minutes ago,” Dyer said.
“I was just thrust into this,” he said, noting he became chairman two months before the Aug. 30 ceremony for this year’s class at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Banquet Center. Tickets cost $60 and about 300 people attended, Dyer said. The funds go toward the banquet and scholarships.
Asked if the group is a registered, nonprofit group, Dyer did not know. He has the group’s books and is putting them together and plans on sitting down with school district officials next week about the matter.
“I would go over it with anyone ... they’re not all together, but they’re here,” Dyer said of the finances.
Dyer said there are five HOF committee members but would not identify them.