Former Columbia Bank Manager Sentenced for Stealing from Youth Soccer League, Team

JEFFERSON CITY, MO—David M. Ketchmark, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former Columbia, Missouri bank branch manager was sentenced in federal court today for embezzling more than $30,000 from the accounts of a local soccer league and his son’s soccer team, which he coached.

Michael Robert Rettke, 42, of Columbia, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan to one year and one day in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Rettke to pay $6,107 in additional restitution (Rettke has already paid $16,720 in restitution).

On December 16, 2010, Rettke pleaded guilty to misappropriation of funds by a bank officer. Rettke admitted that, while he was employed as a branch manager at Boone County National Bank, he unlawfully transferred more than $30,000 from the bank accounts of the Central Missouri Soccer League (CMSL) and the Columbia Bears soccer team into his personal bank account for his own benefit.

Rettke was the treasurer of CMSL, a 15-year-old organization that included 75 soccer teams from mid-Missouri with more than 1,100 players, when it dissolved in March 2010. As a direct result of Rettke’s conduct, CMSL collapsed and there has been no comparable league formed that has been able to take its place. In addition to his duties with CMSL, Rettke was the coach and administrator of his son’s soccer team, the Columbia Bears.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony P. Gonzalez. It was investigated by the FBI, the Columbia, Missouri Police Department, and IRS-Criminal Investigation.