A former employee at Seattle Children's is accused of stealing close to $100,000 from the hospital and using it to finance a Hindu temple. Now, members of the temple want people to know they were not involved, and had no knowledge of the embezzlement.
As first reported in the Seattle PI, Bram Deo was charged with five counts of first degree theft last week. The charges date back to alleged criminal activity in 2011 and 2012, when Deo was working in the accounting department at Seattle Children's.
According to court documents, he created fake invoices made out to a contractor, who the hospital's accounting department then cut checks to, thinking the contractor was a vendor for the hospital.
Investigators say Deo confessed to the embezzlement when confronted by his former employer. He also resigned from his job at the hospital in August of 2015.
Court documents say Deo admitted to using the stolen money to pay a contractor who was doing construction work at the Hanuman Nagri temple in Seattle. The contractor reportedly told investigators that Deo said the hospital was donating to the prayer center, telling him "it is on the up and up and it is perfectly legal".
The contractor told police that he received a total of five checks from Seattle Children's Hospital, totaling $96,250.
On Wednesday, members of the temple contacted KING 5, hoping to set the record straight and let the public know that no one else at the temple had any idea the money had been stolen from Seattle Children's.
"We knew nothing about it. He never disclosed those things to us. The temple community knows nothing," said Brij Nath. "We knew nothing about Seattle Children's money coming to our temple."
Nath is a founding member of the temple who has known Deo for about 15 years. He said the congregation wasn't aware that Deo was charged with theft until it made the news on Tuesday evening.
He said the temple had been told the money was a donation from Deo's family.
"I was shocked and I was so furious that it had happened," said Nath. "It is scary now, but as a friend he was a good guy to me and I trusted him. We trusted each other."
Nath said that isn't the case anymore. He says Deo was the temple's longtime treasurer and is the current president. Nath said temple leadership will have to make some tough choices regarding his future with the temple.
"We have to, because that kind of thing doesn't happen in our temple, and we have to ask him to step down," said Nath.
Nath and other leaders in the temple confirmed to KING 5 that a meeting will be held on Friday to determine whether Deo should step down.
Nath also wants to audit the temple's finances, to make sure none of their organization's money is missing.
"He handled all the money himself," said Nath. "We have not been able to get the books audited so far, so I'll be asking Bram Deo to hand over the books."
KING 5 stopped by Deo's house on Wednesday afternoon, but a family member said they did not want to comment at this time.
Friday the board and members of the temple met and decided to remove Deo from his position.
