Veterans Fight to Save Club After Theft from Treasurer

Veterans fight to save Upwey-Belgrave RSL after treasurer stole from club
Herald Sun
Ashley Argoon
June 30, 2017

WAR veterans are fighting to save their local Returned and Services League, $400,000 in the red after the treasurer stole from them.

War veterans Peter Hay, 84, David Eaton, 72, and Bob Stevens, 49, worry about the future of the Upwey-Belgrave RSL. Picture: David Caird

Pokies addict Marion Mills stole from the Upwey-Belgrave RSL — which has refused to install any pokies — to spend on her gambling and drinking.

But managers fear it may not see next Anzac Day.

“We’re struggling,” Vietnam veteran and Upwey-Belgrave RSL president David Eaton said.

“The problem is you trust people and then you get burnt.”

In April, Mills, 62, was sentenced to four months’ jail, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to stealing $28,918.10 while treasurer from 2010-13.

But she had originally been accused over a sum almost three times that, and also failed to pay bills or staff superannuation, taking the total to about $400,000.
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