The former chairman of the annual East/West Shrine football game was given a six-year suspended sentence Thursday for stealing $40,000 from the charity event.
Jerrold “Jerry” Evans, 79, previously pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft from the Shrine Bowl, an annual all-star game for the previous year’s top high-school seniors. Since its inception in 1947, the game has raised more than $1 million for the Shriners pediatric hospital in Spokane. The Great Falls chapter of the Shrine Club oversees the game. A small crowd of Shriners attended Evans’ sentencing in Cascade County District Court. The sentence was what the Shriners and prosecutors hoped for. Prosecutors wanted to keep the crime on Evans’ record, but spare him the rigors of prison, given his age. “I believe that brings justice to the Shriners and all the charities they serve,” Cascade County Attorney John Parker said. Thomas Duffy, Junior Grand Warden with the Shriners of Montana, said in court that the extent of Evans’ theft may not be completely known. “When a Montana child has to wait a bit longer for help, when a parent in need is turned away, or when a brother Shriner must work harder to re-establish the integrity lost here, we will see,” Duffy said.
Parker said that the effect of Evans’ crime is two-fold &mdash he stole money directly from the charity and, in the process, damaged donor confidence in the charity.