Crimes Unit: Former 1 Voice President Used Grant Money For Personal Expenses

By Mike Perleberg John R. Bitzer II. Photo by Dearborn County Sheriff's Department. (Dearborn County, Ind.) - The former leader of a southeastern Indiana anti-heroin group is accused of embezzling money to pay his own drug court fees. John R. Bitzer II was the president of 1 Voice, Inc. when he came under investigation last November for mishandling funds granted to the non-profit organization. Bitzer, 40, was charged Friday in Dearborn County with Corrupt Business Influence (level 5 felony), Theft (level 6 felony), Fraud (level 6 felony), and Money Laundering (level 6 felony). Bitzer is currently in jail at the Dearborn County Law Enforcement Center. He is serving a 3 1/2 year sentence for a probation violation and violation of his drug court program committed in December. He had been sentenced to probation for a 2014 conviction of Fraud and Theft. As 1 Voice's president, Bitzer had been responsible for coordinating the group's public relations and grant applications. According to an affidavit filed in court by Lawrenceburg Police and Dearborn County Special Crimes Unit detectives, 1 Voice executive director Wyatt Sampson contacted authorities last November after discovering Bitzer had secretly set up a post office box and had changed the bank account address from Sampson's home to that PO box without permission. Sampson also told detectives that he learned that Bitzer may have have failed to appropriately deposit grant funds into 1 Voice's bank account. Investigators found bank records which showed Bitzer had been added as an authorized signer on 1 Voice's bank account in January of 2016. Less than three months later, the activity on the bank account increased dramatically. Suspicious transactions began to appear with withdrawals from the 1 Voice account matching the amount of deposits into Bitzer's personal account. 1 Voice received a $5,000 AEP grant from the City of Lawrenceburg on October 28. The detectives found that only $2,000 of that money was deposited into the 1 Voice account on November 3. On that same day, Bitzer allegedly had three money orders prepared totaling $1,000. On November 10, he made $800 in payments to the drug court program he was required to participate in after his 2014 conviction. Another $200 was deposited into his personal account. Two other money orders, both worth $1,000, were discovered by Sampson. He turned them over to authorities, who have secured them as evidence. Detectives questioned Bitzer on January 25. When it was explained that the same money orders from the $5,000 grant check were used to pay Bitzer's drug court fees and deposited in to his personal account, Bitzer requested an attorney. Bitzer is also accused of withdrawing more than $340 from the organization's GoFundMe.com account between May and October. RELATED STORIES: Former Anti-Heroin Group Leader Pleads Guilty To Probation, Drug Court Violations Former 1 Voice President Under Investigation For Possible Mishandling Of Funds