The former executive director of a networking group for women in business appeared Thursday in Clark County Superior Court to face a theft charge, alleging she stole $30,000 from the Vancouver nonprofit.
Erika K. Laws, 43, was originally scheduled to appear on the charge April 20, but she did not show. Judge Gregory Gonzales authorized a warrant for her arrest at that time.
Deputy Prosecutor Julie Carmena said during Thursday’s hearing that the initial summons for Laws to appear was sent to her last Vancouver address, but Laws has since moved to Las Vegas. An amended summons sent to her Nevada address set her new appearance date for Thursday.
Laws appeared via video, and Judge Jennifer Snider rescinded the arrest warrant. Snider ordered Laws to fly back to Vancouver to be booked and released from the Clark County Jail before her arraignment on May 17. She told Laws to talk with her attorney about waiving her right to speedy arraignment if she needs more time to get to Vancouver.
Laws was the executive director of Impactful Women NW, which achieved 501(c)(3) public charity exemption status in February 2016, according to a probable cause affidavit. Court records state a bank account for the nonprofit was created in April 2017, and before that, all of the charity’s finances were co-mingled with Laws’ personal bank account and that of her business.
After the nonprofit’s bank account was created and until April 2019, investigators said they found more than 70 transactions totaling more than $29,000 that Laws paid to herself or spent at casinos, restaurants and coffee shops, the affidavit says. The transactions were without the knowledge of the charity’s governing board, court records state.
In April 2019, the organization’s board voted to remove Laws as the executive director and began dissolving the nonprofit.
The former board filed a victim impact statement in the case earlier this week, saying it hopes Laws at least pays back the people she stole from.
“Dissolving a nonprofit isn’t quick or easy, let alone when money that doesn’t exist in the bank account where it should be needs to be returned to people and companies for events and invoices that won’t be fulfilled,” the statement reads. “Dozens of hours were spent trying to make everyone whole, or as whole as possible, as we took the steps to shut down the organization entirely.”
The statement says the board members’ reputations were tarnished when they dissolved the organization.
“Many people in the community thought our actions in dissolving the board after removing Erika as the executive director were excessive and out of line. Our integrity, professionalism and compassion were questioned, but at the time, we couldn’t say anything because she was under investigation,” the statement says. “We are glad this case isn’t dead — and are surprised it has been revived again at such speed by authorities — but recalling everything that went down, the facade she wore and the dumpster fires that were left in her wake stir up the anger, frustration and utter disappointment all over again.”
