WESTFIELD – A city man was ordered to pay restitution to two autism charities in Westfield District Court Wednesday.
Richard Greenaway, Jr., 32, of 14 Sycamore Street, submitted to facts sufficient to warrant a guilty finding on two counts of larceny over $250, charges that were amended from larceny by false pretense.
A dispatcher with the Northampton Barracks of the Massachusetts State Police, Greenaway was placed on paid administrative leave when he was charged, according to a June piece published by the Telegram and Gazette.
His employment status with the department was unclear as of Thursday morning.
Greenaway was alleged to have run a fraudulent charity out of his home, Paintballers 4 Autism, a charity which wasn’t registered with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or as a tax-exempt charity with the Internal Revenue Service.
In the court’s statement of facts, Greenaway was found to be aware of these requirements and falsely advertised Paintballers 4 Autism as a charity that supported local and national autism organizations, along with child locators and police training.
Greenaway’s charity profitted through the sale of paintball equipment which bore the name and logo of the fraudulent organization and tournaments in the area were even organized to benefit the charity.
Court documents confirm that Greenaway received material donations from equipment suppliers and that he even appeared on several “multimedia venues” touting Paintballers 4 Autism.
After being caught by an Internet promoter, Greenaway provided authorities with a videotaped statement in which he admitted to running the scam and only giving $25 to a national charity.
He provided authorities with access to a PayPal account used to stash the funds raised by Paintballers 4 Autism and, after examining the account, it was determined that he had spent $4,947.13 of those funds between May 2012 and November 2013.
There were also transfers made from the PayPal account to an unknown bank account totalling $9,227.40 and Greenaway provided fraudulent bank and police paperwork to an Internet promoter claiming that $9,425.00 had been stolen from that account, along with a fraudulent receipt from a nationally recognized autism charity indicating donations from Paintballers 4 Autism.
Greenaway was given a continuance without a finding until August 27, 2015 and ordered to make two seperate $1,000 restitution payments by Judge Jacklyn Connly to a local organization – Community Resources for People with Autism of Easthampton – and a national organization – Autism Speaks of Princeton, New Jersey – who were found to be victims of larceny.
