Former Charity Official Sentenced to 40 Months in Prison for Stealing Nearly $700,000

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel on Thursday sentenced a former charity official who embezzled $690,902 over more than a decade to 40 months in prison.

Judge Sippel also ordered Joelle Fouse, 58, to repay the money.

Fouse was the manager/director of finance and human resources for Promise Community Homes, formerly known as Rainbow Village, a charity that provides housing and resources for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She was responsible for payroll, expense reimbursement and maintaining the charity's books and records.

Fouse caused 71 unauthorized payroll deposits totaling $139,810 and 181 unauthorized expense reimbursement payments totaling $407,186 to be made to her personal bank accounts. She also used the charity's credit card to make 184 unauthorized personal purchases totaling $133,210. Her theft, and the unauthorized payments, caused the charity to overpay payroll taxes by approximately $10,694.

Fouse's "significant embezzlement" was "in addition to the generous salary and benefits the charity was already providing her," Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith wrote in a sentencing memo. "While depriving the disabled residents of the charity of much needed and essential resources, Defendant used the stolen charitable funds for extravagant purchases for such things as vacation travel, expensive clothing and handbags, entertainment, restaurant meals, and to fund her own side businesses which provided her with additional income."

Fouse also lied about graduating college with an accounting degree for years, Goldsmith wrote, when she was really academically disqualified from continuing in school.

In a letter to Judge Sippel, Promise Homes Executive Director Matt Elmore wrote that Fouse's embezzlement while the charity was "stretching every dollar" and "making difficult decisions about which projects to fund" robbed clients of vital services. The $8,000 of the charity's money Fouse spent at Louis Vuitton "could have funded a new ramp for a resident who can no longer navigate stairs," he wrote. The $5,000 she spent on "bottle service at the Ritz-Carlton could have covered urgent repairs-HVAC systems, water heaters, essential appliances-for multiple homes."

Her crime, Elmore wrote, poisoned their workplace and damaged the charity's reputation, "We are now forced to spend valuable time and resources reassuring donors-many of whom have supported us for decades that we remain trustworthy and financially stable. Every hour we spend restoring confidence is an hour not spent serving our residents."

Elmore also said that Fouse was always the first and strongest advocate for raising the rent of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities living on fixed incomes, "because she needed to fund her own lavish lifestyle. That is a level of heartlessness I struggle to comprehend."
Fouse used the money to pay for personal expenses for herself and relatives including travel, clothing, entertainment, restaurants and rent payments. To cover up her crimes, she created false financial reports, doctored receipts, made false entries in the charity's financial records and prevented the charity's officials from accessing records which would have disclosed her scheme.

Fouse worked for the charity from October 2012 through December 2023, when she was terminated and her employer contacted federal authorities. She pleaded guilty in April of 2025 to three felony counts of wire fraud.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith prosecuted the case. Officers of Promise Community Homes cooperated substantially in the investigation.