9 members of aquarium board resign

Nine members of the Living Planet Aquarium's board of directors have resigned in the past two months, and a former employee has been accused of fraud and embezzlement.

The discord is hindering the aquarium's fund-raising efforts, said board chairman Brad Carroll.

The nine board members for the nonprofit organization have resigned or have agreed to resign over what Carroll said are "irreconcilable differences among members of the board."

The pending departures leave the board with only two members: Carroll and aquarium president Brent Anderson. Invitations have been extended to three replacements.

Carroll declined to discuss reasons for the resignations, saying there's an agreement in place to keep those issues quiet.

The resignations of board members and allegations of financial improprieties come at a time when the Sandy aquarium is reassessing its strategic plans to upgrade to a world-class, 90,000-square-foot aquarium downtown, Carroll said.

"We have contacted many donors who would be willing to put in significant amounts of money if they felt confident that the board was acting as a unified body," he said.

A board member who asked not to be identified said most of the resignations have not yet been made official, though that likely will happen by the end of the week. Messages left for other members of the board were not immediately returned Monday.

Carroll said the board members' resignations and a police investigation into the financial dealings of the former employee "are separate issues."

Sandy police began investigating the 41-year-old woman in February after she was fired. Although she was not arrested, detectives took the case to the Salt Lake District Attorney's Office more than a week ago to be screened for possible embezzlement, fraud and forgery charges.

The former employee is accused of funneling funds into her own account and using the aquarium's money to purchase supplies for her own personal use, which were shipped directly to her house, said Sandy Police Sgt. Victor Quezada.

The total loss to the aquarium was about $5,700. Carroll said the employee was terminated for theft of approximately $700 in aquarium funds.

An investigation by Sandy police found $677.59 was spent for supplies at Office Depot and shipped directly to the employee's residence. Their investigation also showed a similar incident of $422.94 worth of supplies purchased at a local Staples and sent to the ex-employee's home.

Sandy police also linked $3,860.13 missing from the aquarium's nightly cash deposits to the woman, Quezada said. Detectives further discovered $698.53 directly deposited from the aquarium into the woman's own account.