Boston Globe, MA
Dec 9 2007
When trust is broken
Longtime volunteer allegedly embezzled from Armenian charity
By Christina Pazzanese
Globe Correspondent / December 9, 2007
He was a trusted coach, an athletic director, and board member who
spent 30 years volunteering for a fraternal organization in which
everyone greets each other as "brother" and "sister." But now, Raffi
Donoyan stands accused of embezzling more than $120,000 from that
same charitable group in Watertown, one that promotes Scouting and
athletic activities for Armenian-American children.
more stories like this"This is one of our darkest days," said Ara H.
Margosian, a Watertown-based lawyer and executive board member of
Homenetmen Eastern Region Inc. "It’s an embarrassing time in our era
to say a faithful member stole our money.
"This is being betrayed by a family member."
Donoyan, 49, is accused of stealing money from the organization by
taking cash withdrawals and writing checks to himself from its bank
account from November 2003 to August 2005, according to the state
attorney general’s office. When he was confronted initially, Donoyan
stated that the Internal Revenue Service had taken the money, the
attorney general’s office said.
Donoyan was arraigned Wednesday in Middlesex Superior Court on two
counts of larceny over $250, a felony. He pleaded not guilty and was
released without bail. He’s due back in court on Jan. 2 for a
pretrial conference.
If convicted, Donoyan could get up to five years in state prison for
each count, or be fined up to $25,000 and spend up to two years in
the Middlesex House of Correction, said Harry Pierre, a spokesman for
the attorney general’s office.
When he was asked about the charges, Donoyan declined to comment as
he stood inside the Cambridge courthouse Wednesday afternoon awaiting
arraignment. Patrick E. Sheehan, a lawyer who appeared with Donoyan
in court but said he has not been hired to represent him, declined to
comment on the case when he was contacted Thursday at his office.
The case has rocked the Watertown nonprofit organization, which
supports youth soccer and basketball teams, as well as Scouting,
athletics, and cultural and social events. While the group has not
filed for bankruptcy, the reported theft, Margosian said, has been
"devastating" financially, creating a deep hole out of which the
group is still trying to climb.
"We just want our money back so these kids have future opportunities.
He took everything, just about every cent we have."
Margosian said the missing money represents years of accumulated
savings, donations, and fund-raising, much of it done by children
through car washes, bake sales, dances, and Christmas caroling. On
Jan. 5 each year, many children go door-to-door singing Armenian
Christmas carols and handing out calendars with photos of children
from each chapter playing sports and participating in Scouting
activities. It’s often the year’s biggest fund-raiser, Margosian
said. The money, he said, was set aside to help pay for activities
such as four-day camping trips for Scouts and for travel over the
July Fourth holiday to participate in the Homenetmen Regional Games,
held every year in one of the chapter cities.
For 30 years, Donoyan had been a club member and longtime volunteer
coach and athletic director who was "pretty influential" and "pretty
well-liked," Margosian said. "He really was friendly with people. He
was perceived as Mr. Homenetmen, always helping out."
more stories like thisWell-known in the Armenian-American community,
Donoyan was a Watertown native and longtime resident who moved out of
town last year. "He was a trusted person," Margosian said. "The guy
is good. He makes you a believer."
The theft was discovered in July 2005 when airline tickets Donoyan
was to have purchased for 200 athletes participating in the
Homenetmen World Games never materialized, Margosian said. With just
a week left before the games, which were held in Athens, many
athletes and their families started to get worried.
"People were asking, ‘Where are the tickets? Where are the tickets?’
" Margosian said. The jig was up when club officials called the
travel agency and learned that Donoyan had not paid for the tickets.
With little time and no money, many athletes weren’t able to attend
the games, an event for which most had spent months training,
Margosian said. "Some of their families planned their whole summer
vacations around this."
After the "initial shock," anger set in as "substantial evidence"
pointed to Donoyan as the culprit, said the club’s treasurer, Robert
Kalantari. "When you work with volunteers, it’s all based on trust.
It’s tough to deal with."
Hoping simply to retrieve the stolen money, officials of the
organization first tried to settle the matter quietly with Donoyan to
avoid providing grist for local gossip, Margosian said. When that
didn’t work, Kalantari alerted the Public Charities Division of the
attorney general’s office.
Since the incident, the organization also has had to work hard to
regain the trust of members, Margosian said. Many wanted to know how
Donoyan apparently managed to take such a large amount of cash over
such a long period of time without being caught. A small number of
members even left the group over the incident.
"The individual did it, but they were upset at the organization,"
Kalantari said. "They were saying, ‘How could this happen?’ "
"It really hurt us," Margosian said. "I don’t think we’ve healed."
Homenetmen was founded in 1918 in Constantinople (now Istanbul) to
assist children left as orphans by the Armenian genocide.
The organization’s Eastern Region in the United States has 10
chapters, including groups in Chicago, Detroit, New York,
Philadelphia, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C. The Western Region
covers the West Coast. In all, 25,000 members on five continents
participate.
The Boston-area chapter, the largest of all those in the Eastern
Region, Margosian said, opened in 1974 and has about 300 members.