Police investigate alleged financial issues at Pennsylvania's largest youth football league

The largest youth football league in Pennsylvania is part of a police probe as officers investigate accusations of financial impropriety. Its former president suddenly and unexpectedly resigned this week.

The league, which includes 44 organizations and 140 teams across seven counties, is under investigation by the Greene County Regional Police, according to Chief William DeForte. He said his department was approached by concerned parents and league members regarding money that they say is missing from the league’s bank account.

Sarah Reeping, president of the Derry Area Midget Football program, said program representatives attended an emergency league meeting last weekend.

“They were told that there were funds they couldn’t account for and that the league’s bank account had been closed,” Reeping said.

In a letter to the league dated March 11, longtime director Bill Spencer announced his resignation, effective immediately.

The letter did not indicate why Spencer was resigning. He could not be reached for comment.

“I’m in shock over this,” said Denise Hafer, previous president of Derry youth football. “We’ve been in the league for about six years, I’ve been doing youth football for 15 years, and WPYFL was the smoothest organization I’d been part of. It was such a well-oiled machine that this is really unbelievable.”

The league’s account is funded through the $5 gate fee charged to those who attend league games.

“The referees get paid out of that, and the remainder gets sent to the league, where they use the money to help fund the playoff games, to buy trophies for the kids and to help pay for a Senior Bowl for sixth graders who are graduating out of the league,” Hafer said. “At the end of the year, the leftover money is divided up among the 44 organizations in the league.”

Some individual teams also keep their own bank accounts, funded through their player registration fees. Reeping and several other league coaches said those accounts are not affected.

Hafer said checks sent from the league back to teams at the end of the football season were regularly between $4,000 and $6,000.

She said a page on the league’s website with contact information was removed in recent days.

Reeping said at the league’s emergency meeting, new leadership was voted in following Spencer’s departure. Interim league president Jared Lowe could not be reached for comment.

Spencer was voted president of the league — then called the Washington-Greene Youth Football League — in 2013 and grew it to include teams from five other western Pennsylvania counties. In 2020, the name was changed to the Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League.

Some of its Westmoreland teams include the Greater Latrobe Wildcats, Hempfield Spartans, Norwin Knights, Derry Area Lobos, Derry Area Wolfpack and Mt. Pleasant Vikings.

Reeping said teams are working to communicate with parents as social media speculation continues to swirl about the investigation.

“We’re all trying to let everyone know that we’re financially fine, and we’re all banding together to make sure the kids get to play one way or the other,” she said.

Rebecca Salandro, president for Greater Latrobe Youth Football’s executive board, said the same.

“Thankfully we have amazing community support and we’re able to function independently,” Salandro said.

DeForte declined any additional comment on the investigation, but said all the information collected by his department has been given to the relevant authorities.