Accused in $6,000 Cub Scouts Embezzlement, Mom Seeks Cash on GoFundMe

Jennifer Aikens of Waterford told a Detroit television reporter that she didn’t intentionally steal money Cub Scouts had earned to go to camp. (Screenshot: WDIV-TV)

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A Waterford woman accused of embezzling about the $6,000 camp fund local Cub Scouts earned by selling popcorn door-to-door allegedly topped herself with her latest money-making scheme.

Jennifer Aiken launched a campaign on the GoFundMe crowdfunding site, claiming she had fallen on tough times. The campaign has since been removed, but not before a screenshot was captured and posted on the MuckRack.com site:

That’s true enough. Aiken free on bond after being charged with embezzlement in the theft of Cub Scout Pack 182’s camp fund last summer. She’s due back in Oakland County Circuit Court this month.

But news of the GoFundMe appeal was enough to make parent Julie Polaski, whose son had been one of those beating the pavement during the pack’s only annual fundraising campaign, scream out loud.

“I literally went into the bedroom, grabbed a pillow and screamed as loud as I could,” Polaski told WDIV-TV.

Cub Scout parents complained to GoFundMe site administrators, and by Wednesday night, the campaign had been taken down, WDIV-TV reports. A legitimate campaign has taken its place for people who would like to help the Cooley Cub Scouts recoup their losses. So far, about $1,550 has been raised.

Cub Scout parents became aware the account had been cleaned out when checks for camp-related activities began bouncing last summer. Their boys didn’t get to go to camp last year, or participate in some of the activities they’d earned the money to attend.

Aiken, who had access to the money as the chair of a Scout’s fundraising committee, told WDIV-TV she didn’t intentionally steal the money.

“Trust me, I wasn’t just taking it,” she said. “I was not trying to hurt anyone. I know it hurt some, and I’m sorry. I am wanting to pay it back, and i am working on trying to find out how I can pay it back.”

Parent Alan Polaski is skeptical that Aiken will repay the money.

“It is just amazing what people are capable of, especially when they’re supposed to be helping a group like the Cub Scouts, that’s about core values like responsibility, trustworthiness and things along those lines,” he said.

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