Parents sign their kids up for hits and home runs, not police reports. Yet that is exactly what Lake Wales families are now sifting through after two longtime volunteers were arrested over thousands of dollars allegedly siphoned from the Lake Wales Little League’s bank accounts.
Lake Wales police on March 2 arrested former treasurer Alicia Bird and board member Stephanie Witt after a financial probe uncovered a trail of missing money. The investigation began when league board members spotted irregularities in the books, and a subsequent forensic audit flagged what investigators say was a pattern of unauthorized debit card spending. The news has rattled parents and volunteers who count on the league to provide low-cost youth baseball across Polk County.
According to investigators, Bird and Witt allegedly used league debit cards for personal purchases. Detectives tied $2,598.79 in fraudulent charges to Bird between May 21, 2022 and Feb. 10, 2025, and $6,670.97 in unauthorized spending to Witt between Nov. 22, 2021 and Dec. 18, 2024, as reported by the Tampa Free Press. Both women were booked into the Polk County Jail and face formal counts of grand theft and scheme to defraud.
The league has taken financial hits before. In May 2023, investigators reported a break-in at concession stands that left a safe and an automated external defibrillator missing, according to Fox13 Tampa Bay. The City of Lake Wales later posted that an anonymous donor stepped up with $2,000 to help replace the stolen equipment, according to the city’s news page. Those earlier losses had already strained the program’s budget before the latest allegations surfaced.
Investigation and Charges
Detectives say the current case formally kicked off on May 30, 2025, after board members raised alarms about questionable transactions. Investigators then spent months combing through years of bank statements and receipts. That forensic review, authorities say, revealed a pattern of personal spending on league cards that ultimately led to the March 2 arrests, as reported by the Tampa Free Press.
Legal Implications
Both Bird and Witt face charges of grand theft and scheme to defraud, felony-level offenses in Florida. State law grades theft and fraud by the value of property and the scope of the alleged scheme, and penalties, which can include prison time, fines, and restitution, vary by degree. Statutory details are laid out in Florida Statutes, Chapter 812 and Chapter 817.
Volunteers, Accountability and the Fallout
Like many hometown leagues, Lake Wales Little League runs on a shoestring budget and a whole lot of volunteer energy. The organization leans heavily on donations and concession sales, and it says it conducts annual background checks on volunteers to protect players and league assets. The league’s public materials, posted on its website, spell out those background-check policies and underscore how much local youth sports depend on unpaid labor and basic financial oversight.
For parents, the allegations land as a gut punch: not just a financial hit, but a breach of trust in a place where kids are supposed to worry about batting order, not bank fraud.
Lake Wales police have asked anyone with information about the case to contact the department. The city lists the police non-emergency number as 863-678-4223 on its news page. Authorities say the investigation remains active and that additional updates will be released as the case moves through the Polk County justice system.
