BOISE Three years ago, the Boise breast cancer awareness community was shocked when the Susan G Komen for the Cure Executive Director was sent to prison for stealing from the organization.
In January, Mary Guinard was released from prison and talked openly about the crime in an interview with the Better Business Bureau.
Guinard said she was given too much trust and prison changed her life.
Guinard was convicted in January of 2009 for embezzling $100,000 from the Susan G Komen of Boise. She talked about how the nonprofit she was working for was small, with a board of directors and a lot of money was pouring in at the time.
The only two people involved in managing the accounting system and the file system was myself and my assistant so it was very easy for me to have access to that, said Guinard.
She said time in prison has allowed her to reflect back and she has become a different person.
I consider these people my personal friends, by business mentors. As far as regaining their trust I mean I pray for that all the time, she said.
Guinard said she stole the money at first by using the organization s credit card to make personal purchases. She said she meant to pay it back, but then she started to write checks to herself and falsified invoices to cover it up.
They (the board) gave basically 110% of the reign to me and a 110% of their trust to me and they shouldn't have, she said.
She had a close and trusting relationship with the board members. She said, looking back those relationships were sometimes too personal and not professional enough.
Guinard also said she was living in depression during that time, and admitted that at some point, she started to not care and even at times felt like a fraud.
I remember an investigator saying to me did you want to get caught? And I thought maybe I did, said Guinard.
In her interview with the Business Better Bureau Guinard gives a message to other non profits and companies advising them to keep a close eye on finances. If it was easy for her to steal, it will be easy for others as well.
A very strong process on check and balances, be very educated on reading financials, you need to trust your employees but you still need to watch your employees, she said.
Now, Guinard said her biggest goal is paying back her restitution as a way to continue to hold herself accountable for the crime. That's about $170,000 she owes back.
