Cool and Unusual Punishment returns to the microphones this week with a long-delayed follow up to Luginbilled. In this first episode, Jodie digs into the details of the ECPD's embezzlement investigation into Joe Luginbill and the Luginbill Children's Foundation.
Jodie
You know, sometimes life happens for a little bit, and then you don't podcast. And now we're podcasting again.
Tyler
Yeah, I'd say that sums it up. Jodie, Jodie, who are we going to be talking about?
You're listening to Cool and Unusual Punishment. This is Luginbilled, an epilogue to our first season on the Music Man of Eau Claire. My name is Tyler, and joining me in the living room is my podcast co host and my wife, Jodie. How are you?
Jodie
I'm good. I'm excited to be back.
Tyler
Yeah, me too.
Jodie
There's a few loose ends we have to tie up when it comes to Luginbilled. So here we are again. And what I wanted to cover in our first episode here is at least the beginning part of the report issued by the Eau Claire Police Department back in 2021 that was released to the public that covered the investigation into Joe Luganville and his embezzlement.
Tyler
When did this under what circumstances did it start?
Jodie
Well, that's what we'll first cover.
Tyler
Okay, you got to have to remind me now. He was school board president...? Who's, this guy? Feels good to be back, let me tell you.
Jodie
So this investigation, like, on the first page, occurred from December 1, 2016. That doesn't necessarily mean that's when the investigation started, right? That's the first thing they looked at and ended 131 2020. The offense that was being investigated was embezzlement. And what I want to read for you first is it's the initial report. Okay. This supplemental narrative was submitted on 1115 2019 by Olivia Earl, who is the person responsible for compiling all of this, I am assuming she's a detective for the Eau Claire Police Department. Okay. On Monday, 722 2019, I received information from a confidential source informant in regards to the charity Lugenville Children's Foundation, Inc. The confidential source informant reported the following information the Lugenville Children's Foundation posted on their website the treasurer of their charity organization was Dennis Lugenville, who is his father. Right. And the President was Joe Lugenville. The website no longer listed this information as of 1031 2019. The website did indicate Lugenville Children's Foundation was founded in December 2016 by Joseph Lugenville. The website indicated in its about section, founded in December 2016, the Luganville Children's Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to ensuring that every child in the Chippewa Valley grows up in a safe, kind, and loving community. We receive, hold, utilize, administer, and dispense gifts-
Tyler
It's all coming back.
Jodie
Of course. It's only funny now, right? Administer and dispense gifts and grants and act without profit as trustee of educational and charitable funds program.
Tyler
It does feel weird to have done Luginbilled and come back two years later and read that. It feels like satire.
Jodie
Yeah. A charter bank account and then it's redacted was opened on five four 2018 by Joseph M. Lugenville. The account name address listed was Lugenville Children's Foundation, Inc. Doing business as Andrew Cray Memorial Scholarship. It's important to note that he's listed as the sole owner and signer of that account on a Charter Bank corporate authorization document. He signed the document on five four 2018 on a line that listed he was the secretary, and for a second signature line, he signed the document sole officer.
Tyler
Are you allowed to do that? I assume if there's a second signature line, generally it's assumed.
Jodie
Listen, I'm carrying a lot on my shoulders.
Tyler
You need a second signature. I can I could do it again. In Cursive.
Jodie
Charter Bank account redacted was opened on 54 20 18. This was the most recent account opened for the Luganville Children's Foundation between 5420 18 and 7120 19. Total deposits into the account had been $34,415. Several checks had been signed by Joseph Lugenville. Two checks payable to Theresa Lugenville, his mother, for over $4,125.01. Check payable to Stephanie Smith for $720.01. Check payable to Banbury Place for $4,237.35 18. Checks payable to Joe Lugan bill totaling $2,887.02. Checks payable to Azara Properties, whom was the owner of the State Theater yes. Totaling 5005. Checks to various universities for scholarship recipients totaling $6,000. This appeared to be the purpose of the account, although definitely kind of wandered into the weeds. One of the checks from June 2019 issued to Azara Properties for $2,500 was returned due to non. Sufficient funds on a debit card was issued for the account because certainly, I.
Tyler
Guess it's a hassle to have to keep writing yourself checks. Just get the card.
Jodie
Well, between 227 2019 and 628 2019, there were 242 transactions $3,600 at various businesses such as Walgreens, Lyft, Uber, itunes, Touch Tunes, Starbucks, Netflix, Kalahari Resort, wisconsin Dells, Airbnb, CVS Pharmacy, and multiple restaurants. Based on the above information, the Confidential Source Informant had concerns Joseph Lugenville was using the funds for his own personal use. I have spent so much time trying to figure out who the Confidential Source Informant is, and I have no clue. This is somebody who knows about financial information here.
Tyler
But isn't everybody in the nonprofit like his family members?
Jodie
Yeah, I think that perhaps the Confidential Source is somebody who worked at a bank.
Tyler
Okay, so just so I have a foundation, I was in 2019, like, over the course of the year.
Jodie
Well, actually 242 transactions in four months.
Tyler
Okay. You have a very thick stack of paper, so I think a lot of my questions might be answered somewhere in there.
Jodie
I think so, too.
Tyler
Can you do this? I guess it would have been the first.
Jodie
The next part is an overview of accounts. This is going to give you an idea of all of the different accounts this detective had to get subpoenas for review every transaction, that sort of thing. It's important to note that this starts by conceding that these are known bank accounts. Sure. Charter. Joe Luganville had access to ten different bank accounts at Charter Bank pertaining to this case. The most important bank account appeared to be account number redacted. Lugenbill Children's Foundation, Inc. DBA. Andrew Cray Memorial Scholarship. Lugenbill was listed as the sole signed on this account. And it was this account that had the largest flow of monetary funds. Eight of these bank accounts were under the umbrella of Lugenbill Children's Foundation. One bank account pertained to Laura Benjamin for Eau Claire political campaign he was involved in, and one account pertained to friends of Joe Lugenville, which was his account for School Board.
Tyler
That's a name of, like, a group or something.
Jodie
Yeah. You'll often see that on political campaigns. Like, paid for by friends of sure, yeah. RCU. Joe Lugenville had access to seven bank accounts at RCU. So far, we have 17 bank accounts. Five of the bank accounts were charity accounts. Andrew Cray Memorial Scholarship again. Smile House Fund and peace on the playground, which I had not even been familiar with until I saw this report. Two of the bank accounts were personal bank accounts belonging to Luganville pertaining to this case. The two most important bank account numbers appeared to be the ones for the Smile House Fund. Andrew Cray Memorial Scholarship. With both of these accounts, Joe Lugenbill was listed as the only signer on the account. US. Bank joe Lugenville had access to one account at US. Bank. The bank account showed as a personal checking account where Lugenville was listed as the only signer on the account. In reviewing through Lugenville Children's Foundation bank records, I observed there had been two personal checks issued by Joe Lugenville that had been deposited into Lugenville Children's Foundation charter bank account for the Andrew Cray Memorial Scholarship. One was dated 525 2018 for $2,000 with a donation in the memo line. So you have to realize that that was a personal check written by Joe deposited into an account for the foundation. The second is another check like that for $500. I had also observed numerous checks issued from the Charter Bank charity account to Joe Luganville with reimbursement type memos. So, as you can see, there's some sort of loose, like, oh, okay, I dipped into this, so I will donate from my own funds to my charity to make it square. There had also been two checks issued from Lugenville Children's Foundation to Theresa Lugenville for $1,573 and $2,551 with reimbursement memos. Now, I imagine that if you're paying your mom back significant amounts of money and you're calling them reimbursements, that perhaps their mom bailed them out on things that they owed that they couldn't pay. The next supplemental narrative is called Contact with Foundation Group, Inc. 132 thousand and 20. In reviewing through bank records I obtained from RCU, I observed from February 2017 to August 2017 that there had been $1,866 in payments made to Foundation Group. I searched online and sent an email request to Foundation Group to obtain further information from them. I received a response from an email I had sent and spoke via phone with the company's CEO greg McRae. McRae indicated Lugenville Children's Foundation had paid Foundation Group Inc. About $2,400 for their services. McCray explained Foundation Group Inc. Had assisted Lugenville Children's Foundation with setting up their corporate structure and helped them apply to the IRS for its 501 C Three status. Clearly, this was money well spent.
Tyler
I mean, it feels like, look, I wouldn't know how to set up a corporate structure. How valuable is that information? If you are the only person doing anything, if his name is on every line.
Jodie
The the intent was there, right? It's a lot of money to pay. McGray stated Foundation Group Inc. Assists about 700 charities per year with this, and it's very common to help with setup. Based on the information I received from Foundation Group Inc. Lugan bill had obtained professional services and paid this company in setting up a charitable organization. As a result, Luganbill would have been provided resources and information from Foundation Group Inc. On how to properly structure a charitable organization. End of report.
Tyler
If you're doing an investigation and a line of questioning, you might have might be, did this person know that they shouldn't be doing the things they were doing? What could you possibly come across that would conclusively answer that question?
Jodie
Yeah. So there's then a list of companies that subpoenas were sent out to that the account were used for charges went to this company, this company GoDaddy or whatever. Supplemental Narrative 512 2020 Epoch.com Subpoena Return on 114 2020 I received an email response from Adriana Dulick of Epoch Payment Solutions. Dulick indicated Epoch was a third party payment solution where in this case, a payment was made to Epoch in order to gain access to websites in Charter Bank charity records. Andrew Cray Memorial Scholarship Fund there had been a total of $126.87 paid to Epoch between March 2019 to June 2019. I reviewed the documents I received from Epoch and observed the payments had been for two subscriptions to two different websites. The subscriber listed for both subscriptions is joseph Lugenbill. The subscription for the first website was for a monthly subscription to the website SeanCody.com. I searched this website online and observed it was advertised as amateur gay sex films.
Tyler
This woman there's a real skill to being descriptive, but disconnected.
Jodie
Yeah. Oh my God. Yes. I attached a screenshot of the website to the case labeled Sean Cody website. The subscription for the second website was dated 310 2019 for a monthly subscription to the website Men.com. I searched this website online and observed it advertised as the best gay porn site. I had already asked Charter Bank if Joe Luganville had ever reported any fraud on their charity accounts to them. I was informed he had not. Based on the above information, it was apparent that these funds to Epoch.com had not been used for charitable purposes. End of report. Then we moved to Supplemental Narrative, which I believe is the same day. Yeah. In reviewing through Charter bank records and your Crane Memorial Scholarship account. I observed there had been a deposit of $800 from Silver Cloud Fund Financial into the account on 916 2019 and then subsequent payments from the account to Silver Cloud Financial. Silver Cloud Financial was a can you.
Tyler
Guess a loan servicer?
Jodie
Yeah, things there's a lot of stuff going off the rails during this period of time that's just a matter of fact here.
Tyler
I can't imagine the situation you have to be in to be taking a loan out for how much was it? 800.
Jodie
I did skip over because we had covered one of the places they talked to was charity fundraising. I enjoyed that episode very much. Not obviously, because money wasn't paid. They were just very forthcoming. So there is documented charity happened sometimes. Okay, so she contacts SilverCloud. The loan application date was 916 2019 for $800. The loan details indicated the annual percentage rate was 727% Fed.
Tyler
Boy, what a those are some conditions.
Jodie
I don't think I've ever seen that percentage rate before. That would cost $2,520 in interest. So the total for that loan principal and interest is $3,320. So that means you need $800 really bad. And reviewing the loan payments, Lugenville had defaulted on some of the payments. It showed a payment schedule that was supposed to go through 2020. As a result of this loan being conducted through Lugenville Children's Foundationandrum Memorial Scholarship account, any payments were then being pulled from this account. Payments were being pulled from the charity for a personal loan. However, the $800 was deposited into a charity account. Well, this account carried a monthly balance in August 2019. Of -20 $9.43 been there Lugenville had one known personal account opened at this time. The balance on this account at the beginning of September 2019 showed $9.16. During this month in the Charter Bank account, I observed there were several transfers from the other charity accounts located at Charter Bank and Square. Charity deposits. I reviewed through the subsequent purchases made after the loan money was deposited into Charter Bank account and observed on 919 2019 that there was a purchase made to Delta for $402.60. Lyft Charges several purchases made to various locations in Washington, DC. Some were dated 932 thousand and 19. I later reviewed Joe Luganbill's personal Facebook page and observed on 932 thousand and 19 he posted a picture of a Library of Congress library card he had been issued with a comment having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card. Another bucket list item to check off at this point, due to the lack of funds Lugenville had in his personal or charity accounts and the subsequent Delta flight purchase and transactions in Washington DC. It appeared Lugenville had taken out this extremely high interest loan with Silver Cloud Financial in order to fund his trip to Washington DC. End of report. End of report.
Tyler
This gives me anxiety. Like you can hear the dashing between obligations like $9 in that checking account trying to be a man about town, and you got 20 bank accounts. Boy, that just raises the heart rate.
Jodie
Yeah. Markworth Lubin wash. In reviewing Royal Credit Union bank records for a charity account, I observed there were two transactions dated 324 2017 to Marquart Lubin Wash. In Eau Claire for $217.27 and $9. I contacted Chris Vall of Marquart Lubin Wash about these transactions. This person then emailed her the invoice for the transaction of 217 27. I reviewed the invoice and observed the payment had been for an oil change, coolant exchange, replacement wipers, and a tire rotation of a 2008 Nissan Versa. I searched the plate number, which was redacted, observed it was an expired plate listing to Joseph Luganville. In reviewing Royal Credit Union charity account redacted, I observed that there had been $1,120.50 in cash withdrawals from ATMs. I requested to obtain the precise dates and times of these transactions.
Tyler
Don't tell me these are a $1,000 in 02:00 a.m. ATM transactions.
Jodie
I reviewed through the precise times and observed several of them that were at midnight, 2200 hours, et cetera. Now listen, there had been several during regular business hours as well. Most of the withdrawals were for about $40 in cash plus the ATM fee. There were a variety of locations money had been withdrawn from, including Bambury Place, Oxbow Hotel, Lismore Pizza, plus, et cetera. Considering this cash was being withdrawn from a charity account and some of the amounts were being withdrawn in the middle of the night, it would seem unlikely all of this cash had been used for a charitable purpose.
Tyler
Look, I'm a $40 at the AGM man myself. I mean, thousand dollars of just like a couple more drinks.
Jodie
Yeah. I think to myself, olivia Earl, where are you? And can I buy you a drink? Supplemental Narrative Facebook Search Warrant on 128 2020 I received a response from Facebook pertaining to the Luganbill Children's Foundation, joe Luganbill, and other associated Facebook accounts I had obtained as part of the investigation. It appeared that in order to donate to the Lugenville Children's Foundation, there was a link provided directing the person back to Lugenville Children's Foundation website. And you donated through Square. So it was not at all done through Facebook, right. It would appear to members of the general public that Lugenville Children's Foundation and other charities under Lugenville Children's Foundation were nonprofit charities intended to primarily help children. I did observe there were some Facebook posts about a children's book and show. If you read between the lines of this, I think what is amazing about all of this is that, okay, you read about the charities, it says what they intend to do. You're familiar with Joe Luganbill, but a lot of the stuff that actually happens and is posted is really not about this stuff at all. It's things like this I observed on Luganbill's personal Facebook page. Here is the Castro, and I couldn't be happier on this cool summer evening along with a picture on June 30 he posted. Didn't expect to show up on the CBS live feed. It was a surreal experience. Marching in the San Francisco Pride parade. That's where the Castro is. I was beaming from the beginning to end. The crowds were huge. So many waves and smiles from people of all ages. I wish I could go back in time and tell my childhood self that it's okay to be yourself. That life will be more than okay. It will be amazing. Along with a picture of him in the parade. The irony in that, right? It's okay to be yourself. Life will be more.
Tyler
Yes. God bless this detective.
Jodie
There were numerous lyft and restaurants in San Francisco. San Carlos, California. I later spoke with a former Lugenville Children's Foundation employee and asked whether this was something that an employee would have been allowed to use Lugenville Children's Foundation funds to go to. They stated that they didn't think this would be acceptable end of report. The next supplemental narrative is the Joe Lugenville email statement to WEAU, which if you were a listener of season one you are familiar with.
Tyler
That was episode two started with that statement.
Jodie
Yeah on 131 2020, Lugenville had emailed a statement to WEAU pertaining to the current events that had been occurring with regards to the Lugenville Children's Foundation and the reported monetary issues and his disappearance. I observed in the statement Lugenville reported he did not receive a salary and he did not have any employees. Quote the level of donations simply did not keep up with the costs associated with operations. He indicated he had been completely overwhelmed over the last several months, especially with regards to the State Theater and Smile House. He stated he was in denial of the bills that were piling up and would now be seeking treatment for his mental illness. End of report. We've got a lot of report left to cover and then it goes other directions so yeah, we'll pick it up next time. Thanks for coming back to listen again. And we'll be back with more.
Tyler
Lugan Build is presented by Cool and unusual punishment research by Jodie Haas with editing and mixing by me. Music by Xavly, Rick Dickard, AG music rocket John Wright and Christian Aen. Our website where you can find a link to the full report from this episode is cool and unusual punishment com.
Jodie
I did observe there were some Facebook posts about a children's book and show. Yay.
Tyler
He makes an appearance.
Jodie
I knew you would like that.