Charges filed in Giveaway House dispute

Sheila Forshee, former secretary-treasurer of the Giveaway House in North Havre, has been charged with felony counts of deceptive practices and theft by a common scheme.

In interviews, Hill County Sheriff's deputies were told that Forshee tried to sell the Giveaway House which she had no right to do, and took donations meant for the Giveaway House to sell at Ruth Ann's, a private thrift store she operates.

The deception charge alleges that Forshee on or about Oct. 10, purposely or knowingly caused another, by deception or threat, to execute a document disposing of property exceeding $1,500.

The maximum penalty for this charge is 10 years in prison and $50,000 in fines.

The theft charge alludes to January through September 2014, when Forshee allegedly obtained or exerted unauthorized control over property belonging to the Giveaway House with the purpose of depriving the owner of the property. The value of the property exceeds $1,000.

The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison with a $50,000 fine.

Background

According to legal documents from the Hill County Courthouse, which recounts law enforcement officer statements, there was a dispute between Giveaway House Board of Directors members.

A lingering dispute between Forshee's faction and another group - the factions each formed their own boards to run the charity - ended up in court.

A settlement agreement was reached Nov. 19, 2013, which Forshee signed. It also created a new board comprising some members of the two opposing boards. Forshee was not on the new board.

The settlement required that the keys and all property and corporate records would be turned over to the new board members within 30 days. Forshee held onto the keys until January or February of 2014, but she would not turn over the key to the post office box, of which only she was authorized to use, the document reads.

Mary Ann Moog, one of the new board members, tried to get the key back, but was unable to. She eventually went to the post office to request a key to the box, but found that the box had been closed and a new one was set up for the Giveaway House. Forshee was the only person authorized to use the new one as well. Moog was able to close the box and open a new one.

In August 2014, Forshee attempted to issue a "notice to vacate" to the Giveaway House and demanded the board to vacate and surrender the building at 1058 2nd Street North.

The board refused.

Moog provided deputies with information that she had about Forshee collecting contributions and donations from Walmart for the Giveaway House, but withholding them from the nonprofit. Moog did not know the size of the donation because it was never deposited into the nonprofit's bank account.

In November 2014, a quit claim deed was executed regarding the Giveaway House that would transfer the property to Forshee.

In January, James Howendobler, another board member, was interviewed by deputies and he told them that Forshee was taking the Walmart donations and selling them at Ruth Ann's. He added that he thought the Forshees wanted to sabotage the Giveaway House so they could sell the property to BNSF, which has purchased other property in the area.

The Giveaway House moved out of the North Havre house March 3, moving into the Havre Central building with My Neighbor in Need as Havre's Helping Haven.

The claims supervisor at Walmart who handles donations to charities said that according to Walmart policy, the company does not donate items to Ruth Ann's because Ruth Ann's sells items for profit.

The supervisor said that Forshee would come to Walmart about twice a week after he called her to tell her a cartfull of items was ready to be picked up for the Giveaway House. He said the value of the items she collected was about $1,000 per month and amounted to about $9,000 worth of donations from January to August 2014.

Eventually, someone told the supervisor what she was doing, and he stopped calling her to pick up donations. She never called him after, he said.

Forshee questions

Jan. 16, Hill County Deputy Stephen Martin called Forshee to come into the station for questioning. She agreed and arrived with her daughter, who she wanted to be present for the questioning. After Martin told her it was unnecessary, Forshee tried to call her mother so she could listen, but could not reach her mother.

"Deputy Martin then told Sheila he needed to read her rights before any questioning took place," the document reads. "Sheila told Deputy Martin she would not allow him to read her rights and continued using her cellphone to try and contact her mother or someone else."

She said she had no involvement with the Giveaway House and did not understand why she was there. Martin tried to read the Miranda Warning to her, and she stood up and walked out of the interview room, reiterating she had nothing to do with the Giveaway House.

Charges were filed against Forshee March 10.

The Giveaway House was co-founded by Forshee's grandmother, Ruth Nystrom, and Ann Friesen in the early 1970s and has served generations of people. People donated usable items, and people were free to take what they wanted.