The lawsuit alleges the Evansville Major League Baseball executive’s wife stole thousands

EVANSVILLE. The Golfmoor Baseball Association, an Evansville-based youth sports nonprofit, has filed a stinging civil lawsuit against its former president, his wife and two companies they own, accusing the couple of stealing $18,000 from the organization and misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars. a span of years

The lawsuit names Sean Hopple, who served as MLB president from 2019 to 2023, and his wife, Jessica Hopple, who previously served as treasurer and concessions manager, as defendants along with their two businesses.

The Golfmoor Baseball Association has already made public its allegations against Sean Hopple in an Oct. 4 press release it issued a day after Evansville police arrested Shawn Hopple on theft chargesa crime of the sixth degree.

He secured his release from the Vanderburgh County Jail after posting $1,000 bail, court records show. Prosecutors had not filed charges against Jessica Hopple as of Monday, according to court records. Sean Hopple pleaded not guilty.

civil complaint, filed on Thursdaydescribes the Hopples’ alleged breaches of financial obligations Golfmoor Baseball Association which the nonprofit’s board says it discovered after Sean Hopple abruptly stepped down as president in October 2023.

According to the complaint, Hopples used more than $18,000 in Golfmoor concession funds for personal purchases between January 2021 and September 2023. But the amount of theft goes far beyond the misuse of concession funds, the non-profit organization claims.

Hopple “stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from Golfmoor,” the lawsuit alleges, by diverting payments intended for staff to himself, failing to return baseball tournament entry fees, failing to return cash intended to cover concessions and using his business to inflate prices League for services, among other charges.

Hopple’s arrest in October covered only the alleged theft of $18,000 from the Golfmoor concession account, according to the probable cause statement. Attorney Alex Schmitt, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Golfmoor Baseball Association President Brandon McClish, said the civil complaint is moving forward.

“The civil suit is for all the rest of the money that came through their hands,” Schmitt told the Courier & Press.

Schmitt said the lawsuit names two of Hopple’s businesses, KMA of Evansville LLC and Triple S. Enterprises Inc., as defendants because the companies “overcharged” Golfmoor for services. As for the impact of the alleged thefts on the nonprofit, Schmitt said he’s “sure that Golfmoor was strapped (for cash) when they didn’t need to be.”

The case file did not say whether Sean or Jessica Hopple had an attorney. Under Indiana law, defendants typically have 20 days to respond to a civil lawsuit.

Houston can be reached at [email protected]