Executive Director of Non-Profit Sentenced to More Than Two Years in Prison for Wire Fraud, Admitted Using More Than $200,000 in Grants for Personal Use
Used Money Meant for Youth Programs for Gambling, Other Personal Expenses

WASHINGTON—Keely E. Thompson Jr., 48, executive director of Keely’s District Boxing and Youth Center, was sentenced on October 9, 2013 to a two-and-a-half–year prison term on a federal charge of wire fraud stemming from a scheme in which he spent District of Columbia and private grant funds meant for youth programs and activities on personal goods, entertainment, and services. The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr.; Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Charles J. Willoughby, Inspector General of the District of Columbia.

Thompson, of Accokeek, Maryland, pled guilty in June 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan. Thompson must pay $205,000 in restitution to the entities that granted the misspent funds and forfeit a money judgment in the amount of $205,000. Upon completion of his prison term, Thompson will be placed on three years of supervised release. During that time, he must complete 500 hours of community service.

According to a statement of offense, signed by the defendant as well as the government, Keely’s District Boxing and Youth Center was a non-profit organization based at locations in Northwest and Northeast Washington. The operations were funded with grant money. The funds were to be used to carry out the boxing program’s mission of promoting youth development.

Thompson admitted improperly using $205,000 in funds from 2004 to 2009. The spending included $105,000 for gambling at a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and on a cruise ship; $50,000 for meals at restaurants, purchases at grocery stores, concerts, speeding tickets, and clothing; and an additional $50,000 on other unauthorized expenditures.

Thompson was arrested in November 2010 and has been free on personal recognizance while the case remained pending. In November 2012, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging him and his wife, Bianca Thompson, the non-profit’s deputy director, with wire fraud and other offenses. The plea agreement in Keely Thompson’s case called for the indictment against Bianca Thompson to be dismissed at the time of his sentencing.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen, Assistant Director in Charge Parlave, and Inspector General Willoughby commended the efforts of those who worked on the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the District of Columbia Inspector General’s Office. They also expressed appreciation for those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Nicole Wattelet, Krishawn Graham, and Diane Hayes and Victim/Witness Advocate Yvonne Bryant and Jelahn Stewart, Chief of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit. Finally, they praised the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Seth B. Waxman and Lionel André, who prosecuted the case.