More than $700,000 was stolen from the Granville Recreation District after someone with a fraudulent account gained access to the district’s email in October last year, according to a new Granville police report.

The incident, described as telecommunications fraud, happened Dec. 22, though the thief initially tried to infiltrate the system in early October. The crime was discovered and reported Jan. 30, Recreation District board Chairperson Greg Lott said Wednesday.

According to the police report, someone was able to “enter into an email thread and provide information” for “payment of services rendered. This was a fraudulent account (not the intended recipient) and the funds were wired to it.”

In total, $713,093.04 was transferred to the fraudulent account.

That $713,093, Lott said, was from a loan and the funds “were never in the GRD account.”

“Unfortunately, we’ve uncovered that the GRD was the victim of an external financial crime that is currently under investigation,” Granville Recreation District Executive Director Andy Wildman announced during the board’s Feb. 1 meeting, before The Reporting Project obtained the police report Tuesday by filing a public records request.

“As a result of the ongoing investigation, we cannot provide additional comment. We’re working with local, state and federal authorities to assist them in their investigation to ensure a swift resolution,” Wildman said in the Feb. 1 statement.

Lott said three parties were involved in the incident, though he could not name them due to the ongoing investigation.

Wildman said he was unable to discuss the crime further when The Reporting Project reached him on Tuesday. Attorney Justin R. Lodge, the fiscal officer for the Recreation District, declined to comment on Tuesday.

The Recreation District, which provides recreational and educational opportunities such as youth sports, the well-attended Concerts on the Green, nature camps and driving classes for Granville residents, has an annual budget of about $1.25 million to $1.5 million, Wildman said.

The district offers dozens of activities throughout the year, including youth sports such as wrestling and baseball, art classes, Beyblade clubs and adult soccer leagues. The district also manages McPeek Lodge, Raccoon Valley Park, the Spring Valley Nature Preserve and Wildwood Park.

In mid-2020, Wildman told The Advocate the district had an operating budget of “somewhere between the $850,000-900,000 range, and it’s about 50/50. We collect about half from user fees and half comes from taxation/subsidization.”

That budget number went up by about $384,525 per year after Granville voters approved a five-year, 0.75 mill operating levy in 2020.

When asked if a $713,000 loss would impact programming, Wildman said Tuesday he “couldn’t speak to that.”

This type of incident is a first for the district, Wildman said, and the organization has filed paperwork with the FBI related to the investigation.

During the Feb. 1 trustees meeting, the board spent about 35 minutes in executive session to discuss the theft of funds and then made the brief statement about the crime.

Julia Lerner writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is sponsored in part by the Mellon Foundation and donations from readers.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Granville Recreation District falls victim to $713,000 phishing scam