Former Dearborn County CASA Director Arrested for Theft

The charge stems from misappropriating payroll funds and unauthorized expenditures.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) – The former executive director of Dearborn County CASA has been arrested on a felony theft charge.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Bevin Van Wassenhove came under investigation in August of 2021 for allegedly misappropriating $65,010.01 of payroll funds and unauthorized expenditures from the non-profit organization.

Van Wassenhove was hired as the executive director of CASA in June of 2018, which came with a salary of $43,000 per year.  In September of 2020, she asked the board to change her position to part time due to an employment opportunity with the Division of Mental Health and Addiction.

At that time, the board agreed to allow Van Wassenhove to work part-time for CASA and amend her pay to $21.90 an hour for up to four hours a week.

According to court documents, Van Wassenhove was responsible for some accounting functions, which would have included changing her payroll status from salary to hourly. However, she is accused of failing to notify the organization’s accounting firm about the change in salary, which she called “an oversight.”

Investigators say Van Wassenhove received an overpayment of compensation in the amount of $25,514.80.

Van Wassenhove is also accused of making hundreds of unauthorized expenditures from public funds in the amount of $38,244.33.

Investigators say some of the expenditures may have been for personal items such as boots, shoes, cosmetics, etc. She is alleged of making instant transfers of monies from CASA’s checking account via a third-party account to her personal account.

Van Wassenhove resigned her position in February 2021 after being confronted by board members. 

She was taken into custody earlier this week after a warrant was issued last month.