NEW YORK, NY – A bowling league treasurer in Queens has been indicted for stealing membership dues and prize money from its members according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
Robert Vickers has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on charges of grand larceny and other crimes.
According to court documents, during the 2019-2020 bowling season, Vickers is alleged to have stolen excess funds that were still in the league coffers when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, shutting down operations.
District Attorney Katz said, “As alleged, the defendant took advantage of not only his position in the league, but of a global pandemic to line his pockets with funds reserved for official league activities. The defendant has been apprehended and faces serious charges.”
Katz detailed, during the 2019-2020 bowling season, Vickers was the treasurer and secretary of the “Ted Guy Memorial” League that bowls at JIB Lanes on Parsons Boulevard in Flushing, Queens. As such, he was responsible for collecting weekly dues from the 120-member League for a prize fund and bowling expenses. Vickers was expected to deposit the dues into a bank account in the League’s name, and, based on League standings at the close of the season, to disperse the prize monies to members.
“When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2019-20 bowling season to prematurely end on March 11, 2020, team captains voted to pay out prize monies based on the team and individual standings for the first half of the season, and to return dues that had been paid in advance of the unplayed games,” Katz said. “Since that vote, team captains reported that Vickers had failed to pay out their team members, and Vickers claimed his account was frozen.”
Instead, Vickers took that money to casinos in New York City and Atlantic City and gambled it away.
Records indicate that Vickers used league funds to make expensive purchases and gamble funds at casinos in New York and Atlantic City.