Former director for nonprofit sentenced to jail for stealing nearly $50K
A Uniontown man will serve up to five years in prison for stealing $47,949.21 from the Fayette County Association for the Blind while serving as the nonprofit’s executive director.
“The harm to me seems immeasurable because the public has lost trust in the organization, and the trust of the public is essential to the success of this very important and very valuable organization,” Fayette County Judge Linda Cordaro told Eric Dolfi during his Monday sentencing. “I find the nature of the offense is most unconscionable because of the position that the defendant was placed in.”
Between January 2020 and July 2021, Dolfi, 44, transferred a total of $17,280.71 from the association’s PayPal account to his personal PayPal account, used the association’s credit card to make $28,607.50 in unauthorized charges and inflated his paychecks by $2,061.
Dolfi’s sentencing is essentially a redo, as he was originally sentenced in February to one to four years in prison – a shorter sentence than the 20 months to five years he received on Monday.
The first sentence was nullified when Dolfi’s attorney successfully argued that prosecutors incorrectly filed charges in the case. Dolfi was able to withdraw his original guilty plea and was let out of prison on bond. After prosecutors amended the charges, Dolfi entered a second guilty plea earlier this month.
Lawrence Kiefer, who was the treasurer of the organization during Dolfi’s tenure as its executive director, told the judge that Dolfi had been chosen for the role because of his reputation in the community and was considered to be someone who had a “strong moral code.”
That changed when the organization discovered that Dolfi had connected his personal PayPal account to the donation button on the organization’s Facebook page and had withheld money from various fundraisers during his tenure.
Before the theft came to light, Keifer said, the nonprofit would average about $1,500 in monthly donations. Now they are “lucky to receive $300 a month,” he said.
“Our donors feel that until Mr. Dolfi faces the appropriate punishment for what he did, they will not consider donating to us again,” he said.
Testifying on behalf of Dolfi was his friend and employer, Bill Higgins, who said that despite having knowledge of Dofi’s past, he would trust the man with “Keys of my business, my kids and my life.”
“Eric’s a better dad than me, and I go to him for advice on how to be a dad all the time,” said Higgins, a general manager who oversees sales at a window supply company.
Higgins told the court Dolfi had been a model employee since he started about three years ago, and has shown regret for his actions.
Dolfi apologized for his actions and stated his divorce was to blame.
“My life got turned upside down when my wife left me…I lost my kids, I lost my business and I just didn’t know where I was,” he said.
Dolfi also expressed a willingness to atone, and said he would be willing to work five jobs in order to pay the nearly $50,000 he stole.
He even offered to volunteer his time.
“I would even volunteer and go back and help the blind, if that was possible,” he said.
Along with jail time, Dolfi was ordered to pay the full restitution.