Non-profit organizations such as the Ontario Minor Hockey Association are creatures of habit.

Dates and matters such as financial flow are predictable from one year to the next.

That also makes them vulnerable, according to Graham Brown, in his third year as president and chief executive officer for U Sports, the governing body for Canadian university sports.

Brown spoke to YorkRegion.com in an interview published Thursday, the same day that a former director of finance (from 2002 until late in 2018) for the OMHA was scheduled to appear in a Newmarket court, accused of the misappropriation of $2.365 million from the hockey association.

Jennifer Robinson, 45, of Georgina, is accused of manipulating OMHA’s online banking processes from June 2018 until the end of November.

Robinson is charged with theft over $5,000, fraud over $5,000, possession of property obtained by crime, breach of trust, unauthorized use of computers and proceeds of crime.

Gambling issues have not been ruled out by police investigators summoned in November when it was thought $1 million was missing.

The OMHA declined to comment.

The alleged theft coincided with significant cash flow from tryouts and registrations among the 230 affiliated organizations the OMHA governs.

In a setting where a zero-based budget is the fiscal year-end goal, typically cash flow goes downward from a high point. Organizations such as the OMHA undergo independent annual audits so there are controls in place.

“It had to happen when they crossed over an unaudited window,” Brown said. “The timing does make sense because there is lots of cash flow at that time.”

Brown should know. For five years he was executive director for the OMHA before departing to run Rugby Canada for 15 years. The Newmarket resident suspects some “fudging” of numbers was involved as a means of deception.

“The cycles are relatively consistent so if there were any differences they would have been visible,” he said. “If it was $15,000 or $20,000 it can happen now and then, but this is astronomical.”

Police say how the money was taken and how it was concealed are part of the investigation and cannot be revealed.

However, Brown said the intimacy of a small office setting could create opportunity. The OMHA office staff is 17 people, including Ian Taylor, executive director since December 2016.

Finances are a topic that can make eyes glass over. All that said, it is not unfathomable that a manipulated document could be difficult to detect, if someone was even looking.

“You become comfortable with the process,” Brown said. “So it is easy to see how if someone presented a report, you would take it for what it is.”

The scope of the alleged fraud should reverberate in the countless sports organizations that operate nationwide.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“I’ve never seen in my time in 20 years as a sports administrator a number that big on an organization that small,” said Brown. “There should be some significance across Canada.”

Brown said the incident has given him reason for reflection in recent weeks.

“I’ve thought about the financial end of my organization more,” Brown said. “But I don’t wake up thinking I’m trying to be one step ahead of a thief in my office.”