Police open youth sports investigation

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin police on Wednesday opened a formal investigation into the financial practices of the former president of a local youth sports association after KXAN News brought some questionable expenditures to light.

Meanwhile, the new president of the Northwest Austin Pop Warner Association told KXAN that he intends to restore confidence in the organization and to make sure the youngsters' interests are protected.

The matter has been assigned a formal case number at the police department, KXAN has learned.

"We would use a subpoena to subpoena the banks and get those records in," said Austin Police Detective Billy Petty, who serves on a countywide financial crimes task force.    

• Parents question youth league spending
• Youth association official ousted from post

KXAN has obtained bank records and canceled checks showing that Sarah Voight, the former president of the Northwest Austin association, used the organization's money to pay for hotel rooms, meals in restaurants and liquor store purchases.

Voight has declined several invitations to be interviewed for the reports that began airing this week. On Tuesday, the governing board of the Central Texas Pop Warner League voted to remove her as an executive secretary of that organization, which she joined after being ousted in December by Northwest Austin Pop Warner.

The task of rehabilitating the image of the Northwest Austin group now falls to Rey Hernandez, whose involvement with Pop Warner dates back to the later 1980s.

Job One, Hernandez said, is to take down the veil of financial secrecy that served as the impetus for KXAN's reports.

"If folks want to see the financials and where all this money is going to, we'll be more than happy to show it to them," Hernandez said. " We shouldn't hide anything. That's why I said we'll have open board meeting (and) people can come and ask questions."

He also said that he's in the process of getting Northwest Austin's nonprofit status reinstated that was stripped by the Internal Revenue Service when Voight was in charge.

And Hernandez said that the organization will impose the necessary checks and balances to make sure no can serve as both president and treasurer.

Asked why he agreed to assume the headache of taking over a troubled youth organization, Hernandez offered a straight-forward reply:

"Well, because I've always been here for the kids. The reason I've been in Pop Warner is because of the kids."