IDAHO, USA — The Idaho American Legion is an organization that raises funds to help veterans and their families. It operates completely on donations, and not receiving any federal grants.
In November, legion executives began concerned about their financials. They discovered a loan had gone unpaid, according to an email sent in May by Commander, Doug Huffman.
A copy of that email was shared with KTVB on Friday. The legion confirmed the email was authentic on Saturday.
In regard to the Nov. loan, executives thought it was a one-time mix up, paying the debt owed.
But as months went on, more financial troubles revealed.
According to Huffman's email, between January and March of 2024 the legion was missing multiple rifles and hundreds of thousands of dollars from multiple bank accounts, making it impossible for the group to pay its bills to operate.
"There was not money in the bank, for the people to cash those checks," Bob Skinner, executive committeeman told KTVB May 23.
Skinner said the legion formed a committee to find out where the money went - pulling bank records from the last three years.
Statements revealed money was leaving the accounts but not being used to pay proper expenses, according to Huffman's email.
One account was supposed to have about $94,000 in it. But executives learned in reality only about $1,000 was sitting in that account, the email said.
"We also had money missing out of different accounts, that did baseball programs and other programs that the American Legion has was responsible for," Skinner said.
In the email Huffman names Charlies "Abe" Abrahamson as the person responsible for misappropriating the legion's money in the role of the department's adjutant position. KTVB reached out to Abrahamson Friday via phone call. When KTVB started to ask him about the allegations, he hung up.
Abrahamson has not been charged with anything at this time.
He was one of two paid employees the legion had. The rest of the organization is made up of thousands of volunteers.
The adjutant position roughly makes $45,000 a year, Skinner said.
On April 8th, the legion suspended Abrahamson without pay, according to Huffman's email.
"It was just unfathomable to us that anybody would do that," Skinner said.
The legion turned over their findings to Idaho State Police, who Huffman said, "executed a search warrant," on Abrahamson's house on April 10th.
Officers found legion property, including 10 rifles, according to Huffman's email.
"It hit us pretty hard,' Skinner said. "Because this individual was a fellow veteran, had been in Iraq and Afghanistan. We trusted him, we believed in him."
ISP told KTVB they can't confirm anything about an investigation until it is complete.
The legion currently estimates at least $750,000 was misappropriated over the last two years, Skinner said. He added that ISP told the legion the investigation could take about a year.
In January, Abrahamson was a 7's Hero on KTVB after he saved a man from a burning car in Arizona.
Skinner said the legion is focusing on moving forward and continuing their programs after financial "repercussions."
"A lot of people are taking money out of their own pockets to make this happen," he said. "We intend to still be viable, and still be doing good things in the community and for the veterans and their families...One bad apple did not spoil the whole bunch."
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