WHITEHALL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — With downcast eyes and a microphone clenched in one fist, Brian Farley stood uneasily before nearly 400 children from the Tri-Boro Youth Soccer Club in eastern Pennsylvania.

He had stolen their money.

Mr. Farley, 55, the longtime treasurer of the all-volunteer, nonprofit club, had pocketed $120,000 from the organization’s bank accounts — money paid by parents so that their children could play.

A county court judge had ordered Mr. Farley to repent publicly to club members as part of his guilty plea, and so there he stood, in front of a throng of children sitting cross-legged on a grassy ball field waiting to play. The club’s leaders were so fearful that an irate parent might charge or assault Mr. Farley that they hired security to maintain order.

“You try to be a good example to your children,” Mr. Farley, whose son and daughter had played for the club, told the gathering. “What I did was one of the worst examples you could ever set for your children.”