May 24, 2010
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News: Red Cross Employee Steals Thousands
West Virginia State Police arrested a former American Red Cross employee for embezzlement. Samuel Kristofer Bunner is facing over 87 felony counts of fraudulent use of a credit card of which he racked up more than $30,000. According to court documents filed in the West Virginia magistrate court by Cpl. J.M. Walker, Bunner allegedly stole the debit and credit card numbers given to the American Red Cross to support disaster victims and maxed out the cash advance feature. The Berkeley County Magistrate Court records also indicate that Brunner was an employee of the Eastern Panhandle chapter of the American Red Cross during the period of August 2009 through February 2010 when the alleged debit and credit card theft took place.
Court documents also indicate that Brunner covered the debit and credit card fraud by developing fictitious documentation by non-existent cardholders and natural disasters that never occurred. Bunner, the former director of emergency services for the American Red Cross Eastern Panhandle Chapter, told the authorities that he worked for the organization for over three years and needed the money to pay his gambling debt. Authorities discovered the debit and credit card theft after Bunner had been terminated, however, no mention was made as to whether the two incidents were related to each other.
Bunner was able to steal the money by filling out false documentation naming the factious names and disasters to validate prepaid debit and credit cards. Amy Grove, the chapter's Executive Director said Bunner had the authority to issue prepaid debit cards and reload them for natural disaster victims. According to the court documents, Bunner would then cash out the prepaid debit cards for his personal use. The scandal involving Bunner wasn't the first for the Eastern Panhandle Chapter. Just two years ago, the chapter's former Executive Director was convicted of embezzling more that $12,000 in fictitious employee salaries and falsifying expense documents.