GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A high school track team’s booster club is out $65,000, and the former coach is accused of taking it.
The Gwinnett Schools Police Department has been investigating this since October and detailed Thursday where they say some of that stolen money went.
How the school district is changing how booster clubs work, LIVE on Channel 2 at 4:00 p.m.
Hall of fame former track coach Matthew Henson turned himself in to police Wednesday on a felony theft charge.
Investigators say the 52-year-old took the money from the track booster club at Parkview High School near Lilburn.
Dating back to 2018, investigators say he used the club’s debit card and checkbook on vacations and travel and subscription services.
The people who donated started asking why that money never reached the athletes.
Their tips put Henson under investigation, and he resigned a month later. None of the money has come back.
Detectives said every person they interviewed said the same thing about the coach.
“He was very trustworthy. They had no reason to believe that he was doing anything nefarious with the funds. So, they really just didn’t think that he would be somebody that would do something like that,’ said Lt. Gene Hamilton, Gwinnett Schools Police Department.
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