$100,000 theft hits Eugene newspaper, printing stops

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

The Eugene Weekly has suspended printing as it investigates a $100,000 embezzlement.

The paper states,“There will be no print paper edition of EW, for the first time in more than 20 years. And we are fighting like hell to print another one. Shortly before Christmas, we discovered that EW had been the victim of embezzlement at the hands of someone we once trusted. We are still counting up the damage, but it’s thousands upon thousands. The theft of EW’s funds remained hidden for years and has left our finances in shambles. A team of private forensic accountants is analyzing our books and accounts. We’ve reported the thefts to the Eugene Police Department, which is conducting an investigation.We’ve discovered that many companies we do business with — vendors who turned out to be very patient — haven’t been paid in months.EW employees who thought they were paying into retirement accounts have learned the money never arrived at its destination. We had to lay off the entire 10-person staff EW three days before Christmas. One of our biggest creditors, our printer, says it will print EW again only if we pay upfront.”

This is terrible, and the community should rally in support of them against this theft.