Back in November, it was revealed that John R. Bitzer II, former president of 1 Voice Inc., non-profit group established to fight substance abuse in Southwestern Indiana, was under investigation for a mound of suspected bad behavior, including embezzlement from his organization and stealing from a GoFundMe campaign he set up to build a sober living home.
Now, it is revealed that Lawrenceburg Police and Dearborn County Special Crimes Unit detectives discovered multiple questionable transactions after 1 Voice executive director Wyatt Sampson ratted him out in November.
Investigators found bank records which showed Bitzer had been added as an authorized signer on 1 Voice’s bank account in January of 2016. Less than three months later, the activity on the bank account increased dramatically. Suspicious transactions began to appear with withdrawals from the 1 Voice account matching the amount of deposits into Bitzer’s personal account.
1 Voice received a $5,000 AEP grant from the City of Lawrenceburg on October 28. The detectives found that only $2,000 of that money was deposited into the 1 Voice account on November 3.
On that same day, Bitzer allegedly had three money orders prepared totaling $1,000. On November 10, he made $800 in payments to the drug court program he was required to participate in after his 2014 conviction. Another $200 was deposited into his personal account.
Bitzer is also charged with taking over $340 from the GoFundMe campaign he set up for the org. That campaign is long gone, as one might expect it to be, however our dedicated team of monkeys scoured the Internet and dug up an archived copy which can be found here. #OURRECOVERYCOMMUNITYROCKS, he hashtagged the plea for $15,000. It raised just $380, meaning he is accused of stealing all of it.
He was charged last Friday in Dearborn County with Corrupt Business Influence (level 5 felony), Theft (level 6 felony), Fraud (level 6 felony), and Money Laundering (level 6 felony). He is currently serving a 3 1/2 year sentence for violation of probation and the terms of his drug court program.
