The treasurer of the Gwinnett Football League has resigned after being charged with taking $500 cash during a weekend cheerleading tournament at the Gwinnett Center.
Rodney Shane Houston was arrested on Sunday and charged with theft by taking, a misdemeanor.
According to an incident report filed by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy working at the event, a volunteer saw Houston pocket the money instead of putting it in a designated cash box. The alleged theft occurred during a league-sponsored cheerleading competition. Houston was working the ticket sales table, according to the report.
The volunteer told authorities he saw Houston “moving a stack of twenty dollar bills around in the cash box. Mr. Houston then folded the twenty dollar bills and placed them in a corner of the cash box where money is not normally stored.” He then saw Houston ball the $20 bills into his left hand and place them in his right hand. “He said the twenty dollar bills were then gone and were not returned to the cash box,” according to the report.
When confronted by the off-duty officer, S.A. LaCosta, and other event officials, Houston denied taking money from the cash box, according to the report. Houston agreed to empty his pockets. He told the off-duty officer that the two folded stacks of $20 bills and other denominations — equaling nearly $600— in his right pocket, were his own money.
He didn’t convince authorities, who said they had probable cause to arrest him. Gwinnett County Jail records show Houston was released Sunday on $1,300 bond.
The youth recreational football and cheerleading organization has 200 teams across Gwinnett County.
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