Photo: Denise Arante
LIVERMORE— A woman has been arrested for allegedly stealing more than $22,000 intended to support youth baseball. She is suspected of embezzling this money from the Livermore Little League.
The accused woman is Denise Arante, a 48-year-old Livermore resident. Arante formerly served as president of the board of directors of the Livermore Little League, until May 2019.
Arante was entrusted with full access to the organization’s banking account and finances. She allegedly dipped into the league’s funds like it was her personal piggy bank.
A board member received information from a bank concerning possible wrongdoing, prompting an investigation. Suspicions were aroused when a check made out to the Livermore Little League was apparently deposited into Arante’s personal account.
While this internal investigation was underway Arante resigned from the board.
The league later reported evidence of embezzlement, forgery, and theft to the Livermore Police Department.
The department’s criminal investigations unit took over the case, with full cooperation from league representatives. An audit of financial records uncovered evidence that Arante was stealing from the league’s coffers for two years.
The missing money was intended to pay operating expenses for the league. At this point, none of the missing money has been recovered.
Arante is believed to have acted alone and she was arrested by Livermore detectives on July 3. A press release from Livermore PD said. “Arante provided a statement to detectives in which she admitted responsibility.”
Her three felony charges are embezzlement, grand theft by embezzlement and forgery with value over $950.
