A former Middletown School District head football coach is accused of pocketing thousands of dollars from team fundraisers instead of giving it to the school’s booster club.
Police charged Robert L. Deibler, 48, of Middletown, Thursday with theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received, saying he stole $7,300 from the Middletown School District between 2011 and 2013.
The school district contacted investigators in July of 2013 when they became aware of the missing money. According to court documents, Deibler would deposit the fundraising money into the football account and then take it out and put it into his personal account. Authorities said Deibler used the money to take care of personal bills and expenses.
Deibler resigned as head coach at Middletown on June, 4 2013, court documents show. The affidavit states, Deibler admitted to police during an interview on Aug. 8. 2013 that he transferred fundraiser money to his personal account.
Deibler waived his preliminary hearing on Thursday and agreed to pay the full restitution back to the booster club, police said.
Lower Swatara Police Detective Robert Appleby said in a statement, “”This was an unfortunate incident and is a classic case of a good person who made somebad choices under the weight of financial stress in his life.”
A formal arraignment is scheduled for June 27.
Deibler is now employed as the athletic director for the Susquehanna Township School District, according to the school district’s website.