Ex-Youth Football President Accused of Stealing $54K

The former president of a Marana youth football association is facing multiple felony charges after court documents say he embezzled $54,000 from the organization.

Steve Leslie Marshall Jr. was arrested Friday. A Pima County Grand Jury indicted him Sept. 13 on eight felony charges of theft, forgery and fraudulent schemes and artifices, court documents show.

The indictment follows a lengthy investigation by the Arizona Attorney General's Office and the Oro Valley Police Department. Marshall was ousted in February 2017 as president of the Marana Broncos, an association that operates within the nonprofit Tucson Youth Football and Spirit Federation.

He was reported to Marana police a month after his departure, following an outside audit of the Broncos' finances at the request of the association's board members. They had discovered irregular financial activity towards the end of Marshall's tenure as president.

After learning of the accusations against Marshall, TYFSF leadership immediately suspended him from the organization pending the outcome of the investigation.

TYFSF's attorney did not immediately respond to the Star's question about Marshall's status with the league.

While details of the investigation are limited, the indictment says that between January 2014 and December 2016, Marshall forged checks from the Broncos' bank account. He's also accused of stealing from the association from January 2014 through February 2017 and committing fraud through false pretenses between March 2014 and March 2017, according to the indictment.

This isn't the first time Marshall has been accused of stealing money from an association affiliated with TYFSF: In 2005, Marshall was sued for $10,000 that he was accused of stealing from the Oro Valley Dolphins. Marshall acted as president of the association from 2001 until he was removed in 2005.

Prior to that, he acted as president of the Broncos from 1995-98.

The Star reported in May that while Marshall was under investigation for his financial dealings with the Broncos, he was also operating a for-profit football club called Team 520 and charging parents hundreds of dollars a month to participate. Team 520 is not registered with the state as a corporation or LLC and was not listed in the IRS' nonprofit database. The team's status is currently unclear.

Marshall also served as a volunteer coach with Canyon del Oro High School's football team from 2015 through November 2017, when his coaching duties for the school year ended. Marshall was not been offered a coaching position for the 2018-19 school year.

The Attorney General's office declined to comment further on the investigation, calling it an ongoing matter.

The date and time of Marshall's arraignment were not immediately available Monday night.

The Star has made multiple attempts to speak with Marshall over the last several months, but emails, phone calls and messages through social media have gone unreturned.

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