The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s agents on Monday charged a former NFL football star for allegedly taking a loan from the Pennsylvania Minority Business Development Authority (PMBDA), which was to be used to open a fitness facility in Chester County, but instead used the money for personal expenses.
Attorney General Tom Corbett said that Lee Woodall, 40, West Chester, PA, is charged with stealing $400,000 that was to be used for economic development.
According to the criminal complaint, in May of 2005, Woodall obtained a loan from the PMBDA for $400,000. The loan was to be used to build and equip a fitness center in Chester County. Loan repayments were deferred until January of 2006.
Corbett said that the terms of the loan agreement required Woodall to purchase specific items of fitness equipment. It also stipulated that the PMBDA would have security interest in that equipment.
According to the complaint, Woodall received the loan money on June 15, 2005. By April of 2006, almost all of the money was spent, yet no fitness facility had been opened. Instead, Woodall spent the money on airline tickets, hotels, home furnishings, cars, automobile rims and other personal uses.
“These loans from the Pennsylvania Minority Business Development Authority, like the one Lee Woodall obtained, are intended to facilitate economic development and growth in Pennsylvania communities,” Corbett said. “Instead, Woodall allegedly stole the money and used it for his own personal expenses.”
According to the criminal complaint, in January of 2006, Woodall failed to make the required payments on the loan; and in August of 2006, the PMBDA had a judgment ordered against Woodall for $419,875, which included the full amount of the loan, along with interest, late charges and fees. The judgment was ordered because Woodall didn’t make loan payments and didn’t keep the PMBDA informed about the progress of his gym.
Woodall was preliminarily arraigned before Dauphin County Magisterial District Judge Marsha Stewart and released on $100,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is set for April 22, 2010.
Woodall is charged with one count of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received, which is a third-degree felony.