Former accountant admits to stealing $100K from Tyler nonprofit

TYLER — A former accountant at a Tyler nonprofit has been accused of stealing nearly $100,000. According to our news partner KETK and an arrest affidavit,  a manager at Hand Up Network alerted officials to a fraud alert from their work bank after a debit card for the organization was used twice at a casino in Lake Charles, La. The manager told officials that the card was used by their accountant, Dawn Pitcock. When confronted by the manager, she reportedly said she had used the card by mistake and paid the organization back.

However, the manager then became suspicious and began reviewing the bank account where he found 283 transactions to Apple.com since March 2024 totaling $96,826.58. When confronted, Pitcock said she believed that he was the person making those transactions, hence why she never questioned them.

Southside Bank then provided documents of all Apple.com transactions dating from March 11, 2024, to Jan. 13 of this year.

“Smith reported that none of those charges were authorized by him, or Hand Up Network, and that no employee should have used a company card for something like that,” the affidavit stated.

After receiving a subpoena, investigators learned that all accounts went back to Pitcock.

“All the listed transactions showed to have been done by Dawn Pitcock. Apple reported that the card was used multiple times to buy virtual chips for an online casino game called ‘Cash Frenzy Slots Casino,’” documents showed.

During an interview with investigators, Pitcock confirmed that she added the Hand Up Network debit card to her account on an iPad that is used by employees allowing them to make purchases if need be.  However, because the purchases were connected to her iPhone’s IMEI number, a unique number to identify specific devices, that meant employees would have access to her phone to make those purchases.

The interview ended with Pitcock saying she wished to speak with her husband and to contact Apple. However, shortly after the interview, investigators said she called the manager at the nonprofit and confessed to spending all the money. After this, Pitcock was fired.

Pitcock was booked into the Smith County Jail on a charge of theft of property.