Washington County man who embezzled $230,000 from youth football league sentenced
Ordered to pay restitution, gets 10 years\' probation
A Canton Township man who embezzled more than $200,000 from a youth football league was sentenced to 10 years’ probation Friday and ordered to pay back the money that he took.
William Spencer, 57, pleaded guilty in July to a felony count of theft by unlawful taking and misdemeanor charges of receiving stolen property and misapplication of entrusted property. Over a five-year period, starting in 2020, Spencer took more than $230,000 from the Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League and used it for purchases from various websites, restaurants and stores. Some of the money also went into Spencer’s retirement account.
In a statement before he was sentenced by Washington County Judge Valarie Costanzo, Spencer said, “I know what I did was wrong.”
“I accept full responsibility for what I’ve done,” he explained. “I’m not going to make excuses. … I genuinely want to make things right.”
Lane Turturice, Spencer’s attorney, described him as “a broken man” who had already started paying back the money he took and “he has accepted responsibility for his acts and has never shifted blame.”
The case was prosecuted by the state Attorney General’s office. According to Attorney General Dave Sunday, Spencer “violated the trust of the families, volunteers, and community members who donated and supported the league — which he left decimated financially.”
Sunday added, “Time and time again, he stole from league coffers, harming the young athletes, coaches and other program supporters with every dollar he took.”
The Western Pennsylvania Football League is a tackle football and cheerleading organization that includes various school districts and programs throughout the Pittsburgh region and northern West Virginia. Spencer’s association with the organization started in 2013, when he became the director of the Washington/Greene Youth Football League, and he remained in that role when it expanded and was rechristened the Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League eight years later.
Spencer was arrested earlier this year after an investigation found he had written 187 fraudulent checks payable to himself totaling about $230,000. He resigned as director of the league in March 2025 when some of its members became alarmed about the state of its finances.
Looking at Spencer while in the witness stand, the league’s secretary, Rachel Connelly, said his theft “wasn’t just about money. It was about kids. … I hope you can better understand the severity of your actions.”
Spencer has already paid $30,000 in restitution and will be required to pay $1,500 every month toward the $200,000 that is remaining. The first six months of his probation will be under house arrest.