BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – A former employee of Jericho Road Community Health Center is being accused of stealing approximately $570,000 from the nonprofit.
The employee, Dejan Karlovic, appeared before a federal magistrate on Monday and is charged with stealing from an organization that receives federal funds.
Dr. Myron Glick, the center's founder and CEO, said Karlovic was hired last fall as a grant manager, but was fired in June due to his job performance.
About 10 days ago, Glick said the staff had trouble tracking certain charges that were made under the organization's credit cards. They said they found that three months worth of money was missing.
Glick said Monday that he felt a deep sadness over the theft because Jericho Road’s mission is to help vulnerable communities.
“Disappointment, anger, you feel upset," he said. "But then I think you rally, and you say let's do what we need to do to make sure, first of all, this doesn't happen again, to reassure all of our faithful donors in the community that we have controls in place and that we're going to do our very best to protect their donations, that none of their donations were touched, and that our work goes on."
Jericho Road’s daily operations will continue as usual, Glick said. He's hopeful that they will be able to recover most, if not all, of the money.
Dave Greber is an award-winning anchor and reporter who has been part of the News 4 team since 2015. See more of his work here.
