A former insurance agent has admitted embezzling more than $384,000 from the state’s amateur hockey association while serving as a district treasurer.

Steven Brier, 55, entered a guilty plea in federal court in St. Paul on Monday. He pled guilty to tax evasion for not reporting his ill-gotten gains as income.

Brier, of Oakdale, could face 18 months in prison when sentenced later by U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle. No sentencing date has been set.

He admitted he underreported his 2010 income by $74,473, the amount he embezzled that year while serving as a district treasurer of the group now known as Minnesota Hockey, which governs youth and amateur hockey in the state.

Brier served as District 2’s treasurer from April 2005 to September 2011, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Ueland told the judge. In that job, Brier got reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses and could also write checks on the district’s account.

Ueland said that beginning in December 2005, Brier began to write unauthorized checks to himself, and continued until late last year.

“You knew you weren’t entitled to that money, right?” the prosecutor asked Brier as he stood before the judge.

“Yes,” Brier replied quietly.

Ueland said that over the years, Brier embezzled more than $384,000, and that somewhere along the line, he paid back $81,000. He also never reported the money as income on his taxes.

“You did that knowingly?” Ueland asked him.

“Yes.”

“You knew it was against the law?”

“Yes.”

Kyle accepted Brier’s guilty plea and ordered a pre-sentence investigation into the man’s background.

The tax-evasion charge that Brier pleaded guilty to carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Under the plea agreement, the prosecution and defense agreed that in Brier’s circumstances, federal sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of 12 to 18 months and a fine of $3,000 to $30,000.

Kyle is not obligated to abide by those recommendations, though.

After the hearing, Ueland declined comment on whether Brier would face charges stemming from the actual embezzlement.

 

 

Oakdale police began investigating the disappearance of the funds in September 2011 after a District 2 official said the district’s bank had noticed irregularities with the account.

A police report written at the time did not name Brier, but said the suspect was the district’s treasurer “and has been writing checks to self, endorsing checks and cashing checks since 2009.”

Oakdale police looked into the matter and referred the case to Maplewood police because that is where the bank is located. Maplewood officials contacted federal investigators.

Minnesota Hockey Inc., which once went by the name Minnesota Amateur Hockey Association, is an affiliate of USA Hockey and has been in business since 1947. District 2, based in Oakdale, is among 16 districts in the state organization.

Minnesota Hockey Inc. is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization. It reported more than $1.9 million in gross receipts on the IRS Form 990 that it filed for the fiscal year from September 2010 to August 2011.