Ex-leader of tourism nonprofit pleads guilty to theft, ordered to pay back more than $70K

The former leader of a New Orleans tourism nonprofit pleaded guilty on Tuesday (April 2) to misdemeanor theft and was ordered to pay back more than $70,000 that prosecutors say she stole from the organization. She also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine, which would go to the organization.

Tonnette “Toni” Rice, who resigned her post as president of the New Orleans Multicultural Tourism Network in January 2017 following a WVUE – Fox8 investigation into her credit card spending, was also sentenced to six months of probation, court records show.

The same month Rice resigned, the Office of the Inspector General looked into allegations of theft and fraud. The OIG’s investigation found that between Aug. 7, 2015, and March 16, 2017, while Rice was president of the nonprofit, she "misappropriated in excess of $70,000" from the nonprofit, "for her personal benefit,” arrest records show.

In an affidavit for Rice’s arrest warrant, NOPD Sgt. Frank Denton wrote Rice issued herself 85 checks from the nonprofit totaling $70,581.61, from Jan. 3, 2013, through March 16, 2017.

Read more: https://www.nola.com/crime/2019/04/ex-leader-of-tourism-nonprofit-pleads-guilty-to-theft-ordered-to-pay-back-more-than-70k.html