Mount Vernon Woman Charged With Theft Of Thousands Missing From Brad Conn Memorial Fund

Sedro Woolley, Washington– UPDATE: Rebecca Maskell was taken into custody on June 2nd, 2016 for Theft 1st Degree. She is Scheduled to be released on July 12th, 2016.  She is currently being held in the Whatcom County Jail.

SEDRO-WOOLLEY, WA – A former student of beloved Sedro-Woolley High School coach and teacher Brad Conn, who died unexpectedly January 10th, 2015, has been charged with First Degree Theft after allegedly stealing and spending thousands of dollars from an account that was supposed to benefit Conn’s family.

According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by SkagitBreaking.com through a public disclosure request, 24-year-old Rebecca Maria Maskell, a resident of Mount Vernon, is accused of taking the money and has been charged with Theft in the 1st Degree.

The probable cause warrant affidavit states that  on October 20th, 2015, Sedro-Woolley Police were notified about a suspected theft of funds from a gofundme.com account set-up in honor of Brad Conn. Detectives from the Sedro-Woolley Police Department investigated further and found that on the same day that Coach Conn passed away, Rebecca Maskell started a Facebook page called “In Loving Memory of Mr. Brad Conn.”   The cover picture, which is pictured below, was a photo of Mr. Conn and his son wearing Sedro-Woolley baseball gear.

The same day the Facebook page was created, Rebecca also posted a link to a GoFundMe.com account that she had created.  The GoFundMe link no longer works and has been removed, but the post showed a photo of Mr. Conn and read “I am really hoping to help the family out, I got this set up for them” The post also stated “click here to support In Memory of Brad Conn by Rebecca Maskell.”  “I have created this page to help my family to be able to pay for expenses coming up!”  Here is a screen shot of  one of the posts, which Skagit Breaking shared multiple times to help raise awareness and funds for the family.

 

Initially, Coach Conn’s family did not attempt to obtain the money from Rebecca, but they did receive email updates of who donated and the amounts. The family  figured the money would be given to them once the fundraising campaign ended.  After several months of not hearing anything, Coach Conn’s family asked about the money and Rebecca told the family that she wanted to give them the check in person.  This did not happen, so the family again contacted Rebecca and asked about the money.  Rebecca told the family that the money had been stolen by her ex boyfriend who had broke into her bank account and stole all her money, including the GoFundMe fundraiser money.  Detectives researched this and found no reports from Rebecca about any thefts of money from her bank accounts.

Detectives requested and were granted a search warrant out of the Skagit County Superior Court from GoFundMe.com. On October 26th, 2015, detectives received information back from GofundMe.com confirming the Mr. Conn Fundraiser had been created by Rebecca Maskell. The warrant also confirmed a we-pay email associated with Rebecca Maskell and a bank account number that was attached to the account, returned to Rebecca Maskell as well.  The search warrant showed the funds from the GoFundMe.com account were withdrawn on February 20th, 2015.

On October 27th, 2015, detectives received a search warrant out of the Skagit County Superior Court related to the bank account attached to the GoFundMe.com account used for the Mr. Conn Fundraiser.  The search warrant confirmed that Rebecca was the only account holder on the account and that no large withdraws had been made from her account. This did not match what Rebecca had told the family about a large amount of money being stolen by her ex boyfriend.   The bank statement for the account showed a starting balance of $389.13 on 01/23/2015. On 02/20/2015 the balance was $86.99. After the deposit from GoFundMe.com  (We-pay) of $8,418.48, the ending balance showed $8119.22.

On October 27th, 2015, detectives called Rebecca Maskell and requested to meet with her. Detectives explained to her that they knew the money was spent in small sums for personal use, instead of stolen by her ex boyfriend in a large sum as she had told the Conn Family.   Rebecca initially lied and continued to blame her ex boyfriend and after being presented with the information obtained by detectives, she changed her story and admitted to spending the money.   Rebecca told detectives several times that she wanted to repay the money when she got caught up on her own bills, but had not done so.   Rebecca also admitted to lying to the Conn Family about what happened to the money.

I spoke with Mr. Conn’s wife, Beverly about the theft. She stated “It’s been financially difficult. Our family lives frugally, we always have,  but we had planned our  finances around the money that was being donated and  raised by the community for Brads memorial through the GoFundMe.com account. It’s been difficult, but we’re doing okay.”

Beverly told me she was able to get a job which she was thankful for  and she had to go back to work earlier then she had planned.  She had hoped to be able to spend more time with her kids adjusting to Mr. Conn’s death. I asked her how she knew the woman who created the go fund me account.  She said “Rebecca was a former student of Brad’s and a distant family member.”  Beverly said she has never met her in person.    She included, “I hope she knows what she did was wrong. She took advantage of the family and every person who donated to the online fundraiser.”

The GoFundMe account link is listed in Mr. Conn’s obituary.  It will forever be a reminder of Rebecca taking advantage of the Conn family after Mr. Conn’s untimely death.

There is still a  Conn Family Memorial Fund  active at Skagit State Bank locations. Anyone who would like to contribute to the fund can do so by visiting any  Skagit State Bank location.

Beverly allowed me to share Coach Conn’s Life Story and legacy below via information from his obituary.

Coach Conn was raised and attended school in Burlington, Washington and graduated from the  Burlington-Edison High School in 1986.  After graduating high school,  Coach Conn attended Skagit Valley College from 1986 until 1988 where he played baseball and earned his Associates Arts degree.

Coach Conn worked at Skagit Valley Park and Recreation where he was instrumental in the development of the SWISH basketball program, adult sport programs and youth sport camps.

In the spring of 1989, Coach Conn returned to Skagit Valley College as the assistant to long-time Head Coach Jim Hosek.  Mr. Conn coached at Skagit Valley Community College through the 1997 season before being hired to take over the program at Sedro-Woolley.

In 1998, Brad was hired as the Head Baseball Coach at Sedro-Woolley High School where he worked as a Safety Enhancement Officer and Head Baseball Coach until his passing on January 10th, 2015.

 

 

During Brad’s coaching at Sedro-Woolley he was a fixture in Skagit Valley as well as the baseball community throughout the state and region.   Coach Conn served as the Washington State Baseball Coaches Association President from 2004 to 2013.  During his time as the WSBCA President he was instrumental in having the Washington State Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Banquet moved to Safeco Field and created a display of honorees in the Seattle Mariner Museum. Mr. Conn coached the Senior All State Games in 2005 and 2014.

In 2011, he started Skagit Valley Baseball Club with the help of George Dewey and Mount Vernon Head Baseball Coach Danny Costa. Mr. Conn  was an Associate Scout for the Seattle Mariners from 2009 until his passing, where he coached the Mariner Scout Team in Arizona.

In 2013, Mr. Conn  was named Northwest Conference Coach of the Year for Baseball.

On November 22, 2014, Mr. Conn  was inducted into the Washington State Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Coach Conn considered this one of his greatest professional accomplishments.

Coach Conn  was a well respected colleague and mentor at Sedro-Woolley High School. He was a major influence in the lives of his students, colleagues and friends.

On January 12th, 2015, Karmen Burress posted the following “a piece of us is missing today” and included a photo of Mr. Conn’s Door at the School.

 

On January 15th, 2015. Gen X Graphics and Printing made and printed these shirts:

On February  25th, 2015, Jerry Gardner Jr. shared, “Big Lake Elementary is doing Jump Rope For Heart this week- My kids started filing out Brad’s name a bunch of hearts – so we just SWUNG hard and put his number on the wall”

On April 23rd, Sedro Woolley High School Honored Coach Conn with a memorial award.

A link can be found here to listen to the Sedro Woolley awards Ceremony. 

On Saturday, May 9th, 2015 Coach Conn was honored at the Skagit Valley College Dream Field with a plaque and an award that was named in his honor in a ceremony between a doubleheader.

 

On September 3rd, 2015, David Conn writes, ” When I walked into the high school yesterday I felt Brad’s presence. Brad will always be a part of Sedro Woolley High and always be “CUB STRONG”. We received a phone call at the end of the school year asking if we had pictures they could use for the year book for a tribute to Brad. I received an e-mail this week from Kerri and Mr. McCartt saying the year books arrived and they would leave one for us in the office. I could hardly wait to see it. As I looked at every page and read the tributes as well as all the comments from his students {kids} my heart swelled with pride and was so pleased to know how many students and friends loved our son. He was a very special son and will be forever missed.

“This entire situation has been difficult for our family and we Thank the community for their continued support.” said Beverly.

Click here to be taken to the Full Obituary for Coach Brad Conn