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Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Thursday, August 07, 2008

Green Bay man accused of defrauding country club

GREEN BAY (AP) — Federal prosecutors Wednesday charged the former director of finances for the Oneida Golf and Country Club of defrauding the club of nearly $3 million in a check-writing scheme carried out over several years.

A federal grand jury charged Dale Endries, 46, of Green Bay, with 10 counts of mail fraud and four counts of money laundering, U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic said.

The indictment said Endries was controller for the country club when he developed a scheme to steal $2.6 million from the club between 1999 and 2007.

The scheme involved writing checks to two banks on the country club’s account and Endries getting the money, sometimes by cashing the checks, the indictment said. He is also accused of writing club checks to pay off personal credit cards.

Prosecutors allege he used the money to buy a condominium in Cancun, Mexico, a 2005 Cadillac SUV, a 2004 Cadillac Escalade, furniture and other goods, according to court records.

Endries did not immediately return a telephone message left Wednesday on his cell phone.

The U.S. Marshals Service in Milwaukee said Endries was arrested July 11 and was free on bond, which required him to surrender his passport, with other conditions.

Endries attorney, John Miller Carroll of Appleton, said Endries will plead not guilty to the charges during a court appearance today. The attorney declined further comment.

According to the indictment, the fraud was uncovered when the golf club realized it was continually losing money and hired an outside management firm in March 2007 to find out why.

Endries, the club’s general manager and head chef were terminated in the reorganization, the indictment said.

The new managers — Troon Golf — determined the club lost about $500,000 in 2006 and had operating losses of about $300,000 in 2004 and 2005. Plus, they found unauthorized checks signed by Endries and stamped with the signature of the club’s past president who had not been authorized to sign checks since 1998, the indictment said.

Green Bay police were contacted last February by Club President William Plummer.

When Endries and other workers at the club realized an outside management company was being brought in, a meeting of club’s board of directors was secretly recorded, leading Endries to encourage workers to stage a walkout in an attempt to force the board not to hire new managers, the indictment said.

The indictment said Endries set up a company called Endries Enterprises LLC that he used to launder the stolen money to make payments to buy the beach-front, “three-bedroom, three-bath luxury condo” in Mexico. Among records uncovered in the investigation was a March 4 wire payment to Endries for $3,485 as rental payment from a man in Cancun, the indictment said.