The search for Harold Tolbert ended Saturday morning after he turned himself in at the Fayette County Sheriff's Office to face charges of embezzlement and computer fraud.
Tolbert, 35, allegedly stole nearly $9,500 from a bank account he controlled as then-president of a youth football league called the Valley Rockets, according to a criminal complaint filed in Fayette County Magistrate Court.
Shortly after he took over the league on Jan. 17, Tolbert failed to provide expenditure reports or bank records to other members of the league, the complaint states. He later stopped all contact with the members.
A former president of the league closed her team bank account and transferred the balance of about $10,000 to Tolbert's new account. She later told police Tolbert immediately wrote himself a check for $750 and said it was for "printing expenses," according to the complaint.
Though the league never received any equipment, according to the complaint, the memo on a check for $1,200 said "football equipment."
The league elected Nathan Withrow as president during an emergency meeting April 9, and authorities announced the search for Tolbert on Friday.
Tolbert turned himself in the next morning and authorities charged him with embezzlement and 11 counts of computer fraud, according to a news release from Fayette Sheriff Mike Fridley. Tolbert remained at Southern Regional Jail in lieu of a $50,000 bail Monday afternoon.
In the release, Fridley said his office received several tips via Crime Stoppers, and deputies searched Tolbert's home in Gauley Bridge before his arrest.
"With the intense exposure of the case, the subject felt it was in his best interest to turn himself in," Fridley said. "This was a very sensible decision on his part."
Reach Giuseppe Sabella at giuseppe.sabella@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5189 or @Gsabella on Twitter.