Former Little League president indicted

Bill Gang

Thursday, Oct. 8, 1998 | 11:12 a.m.

A Clark County grand jury has stepped up to bat in the scandal over $120,000 in missing funds from the Peccole Little League.

Former league President David McCurdy was indicted Wednesday on charges of theft, attempted theft and insurance fraud. Chief District Judge Myron Leavitt issued a warrant for McCurdy's arrest following the indictment.

The indictment was the result of a yearlong probe into the wayward finances of the league and the role of McCurdy, who was its president from 1993 to 1996.

The league bounced a series of checks during 1996 totaling more than $50,000, according to documents obtained by the Sun.

Charges also surround a $73,000 donation from Fletcher Jones in 1994 to erect five scoreboards at Rainbow Park on Oakey Boulevard -- only one of which was constructed.

In return for the donation, Fletcher Jones was supposed to get advertising rights.

The scoreboards were ordered from Athletic and Recreation Services in Gilbert, Ariz., but only one was paid for and delivered. A check for $32,244 was issued by the league to pay for the remaining four, but it was canceled and never deposited.

Another check for $20,000 was then issued to pay for four less expensive scoreboards, but it bounced when Athletic and Recreation Services tried to deposit it. Those four scoreboards were never delivered.

McCurdy also is charged with making an insurance claim for $50,000 in league equipment he said was stolen but some of which was later located.

The league is now playing at a five-diamond, $2 million complex funded by the city of Las Vegas. It was supposed to have been built with a $1.7 million donation in 1994 from developer William Peccole, but the city had to step in and take over the construction project when funding woes surfaced.

About $400,000 of the donation was said to have been spent on construction work, but much of that work had to be redone because of drainage and other problems.

Pastime Parks Inc., a private developer, had received Peccole's donation directly although it never completed the project. There have been questions about the remaining funds, but that issue was not part of the indictment against McCurdy.

Another sign of distress for the Peccole league surfaced in 1996, when bills for uniforms and equipment went unpaid for months.

Checks to Turf Sporting Goods totaling more than $28,000 for equipment during the summer of 1996 also bounced.