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Gate fee dollars estimated in the tens of thousands from a major softball tournament held in Houma last year appear to be missing and are now the focus of a criminal investigation.
Houma hosted the Babe Ruth Softball Southwest National Regional Tournament, which drew nearly 50 teams from seven states, for six days in 2017. An operating agreement between the Terrebonne Parish Recreation Department, along with Recreation District 2-3 and the league, provided for the parish government to receive the spectator admission receipts.
A cash amount has not been disclosed. But estimates according to interviews with league officials and others close to the investigation indicate as much as $30,000 could be involved, if not more.
“My detectives are working hard on this,” Sheriff Jerry Larpenter said Friday. “These cases take time. We are having to do warrants on bank accounts, determine who handled money, look at ledgers and receipts.”
A recreation audit ordered by Parish President Gordon Dove brought the issue to light.
“It was estimated that between 40 and 70 teams were slated to play in this tournament,” Dove stated in a June 21 letter to District Attorney Joe Waitz Jr. “My accounting department could not find any deposit slips for the proceeds of the ticket sales being deposited in any bank account.”
The letter requests an investigation of what happened to the admission fees. On June 29 First Assistant District Attorney Jason Dagate told Dove that his complaint was forward to the Sheriff’s Office. An initial report that same day was prepared.
Former TPR director Sterling Washington oversaw his agency’s involvement, which allegedly included collection of the cash admission receipts. Contacted for this article, Washington’s legal counsel refused comment. Babe Ruth League assistant commissioner Sonny Groom acknowledged that auditors and investigators have reached out to him with questions, but that his information is limited.
The league does not handle gate receipts as a matter of practice and according to the joint operating agreement with host cities for tournaments.
Washington resigned his post June 12, seventeen days before Dove reached out to Waitz. The move occurred after media reports indicated he knew an assistant basketball coach barred from contact with children because of a pending human trafficking charge was present at TPR games. Washington had previously denied knowledge that the coach was still involved with the agency.
The Recreation Department is still undergoing audits, along with the independent Recreation District 2-3 and District 11. Dove had ordered the audits because of various reports of financial irregularities concerning the entities. Among those was an inconsistency between the amounts of soft drinks purchased by District 2-3 over a 3-year period and deposits of cash receipts related to their sales. District 2-3 was in charge of concessions for the Babe Ruth tournament, but it is not clear whether that activity is related to the current investigation.
“We are auditing and going over any and all leads,” Dove said in an interview last week, noting that the inability to account for the gate fees does not necessarily indicate that wrong-doing occurred. No individual, he said, is a specific target of the investigation. Dove also said he did not request Sterling Washington’s resignation either in connection with the missing money or the faux pas involving the former coach.
“Sterling Washington’s resigning was of his own accord,” Dove said.
