Court docs: Grand Island nonprofit leader misspent thousands on Broadway tickets and more

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The leader of a Grand Island nonprofit spent the organization’s money on a wide array of personal expenses, court documents allege.

Leah Smillie, 53, was arrested Wednesday on a charge of felony theft by deception.

The Grand Island woman was the executive director of the First Light Child Advocacy Center, but she is no longer listed on the nonprofit’s website.

On March 12, an employee noticed a flight to Aberdeen, Scotland, on the nonprofit’s bank statement, according to the Grand Island Police Department.

Smillie took the statement to her office, an arrest affidavit says, and when she brought it back, that transaction and others had been “whited out.”

That prompted the advocacy center to examine its financial records from July 2023 through February.

Board members said they found a total of 88 fraudulent purchases that cost the nonprofit $24,885.44.

The affidavit says Smillie used the nonprofit’s credit card for a trip to New York that she claimed was for an International Child Advocacy Center conference.

The transaction for the conference itself was $1,118.14.

But employees told police that there is no evidence the conference even exists.

Instead, court documents allege that Smillie spent the money on Broadway.

Police subpoenaed StubHub, which reported that Smillie bought two tickets for “Glengarry Glen Ross.”

The affidavit says after all the fees, the total cost was $1,118.14 — the same amount that Smillie claimed to have spent on the conference.

Court documents also list several flight and hotel bookings as fraudulent.

Smillie also used the advocacy center’s bank card to pay more than $3,000 in medical bills, police said.

And the nonprofit was receiving bills from Spectrum for Smillie’s personal phone, according to the affidavit.

Smillie is due back in court on May 16.