Hearing rescheduled for former Portneuf Valley Soccer Club president accused of embezzlement
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POCATELLO – The woman accused of stealing from the organization she was once tasked with leading has had her preliminary hearing date pushed back.
Cristi Stone, the former president of the Portneuf Valley Soccer Club, appeared in court at the Bannock County Courthouse for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday morning. Magistrate Judge David Cousin informed the courtroom that after meeting with counsel, he had decided the hearing would need to be rescheduled.
“This is a discovery evidence, paper-heavy case, and they are requesting some time, and they are anticipating the preliminary hearing will take quite a bit of time in order to get through the evidence. More than we would have allotted to us on a regular day like this,” Cousin said.
The court has not yet set a date for the new preliminary hearing. Instead, Cousin set a status conference for Oct. 27 and said that, in the meantime, his clerks would work on finding a date with a judge who would have a day and a half free for Stone’s preliminary hearing.
“If it ends up that there isn’t a resolution, then we could proceed forward with the day-and-a-half hearing. Whether it’s me or another judge, we want to make sure that we’re actually moving forward that day,” Cousin said.
Stone is accused of embezzling over $219,000 from the Portneuf Valley Soccer Club, resulting in a charge of one count of felony grand theft. This theft allegedly occurred across multiple transactions between January 2023 and April 2024, EastIdahoNews.com previously reported.
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According to court records, Stone claimed that she had accidentally linked her personal credit card to the club’s bank account and offered “varying explanations” over the course of several PVSC board meetings, during which they met to discuss the suspicious transactions. Stone was removed as PVSC club president at an emergency board meeting.
After that meeting, an office administrator contacted law enforcement, saying Stone had dropped off a cashier’s check marked as a “voluntary partial reimbursement of misappropriated funds.”
In June, officers scheduled a meeting with Stone, which she reportedly agreed to, but then called to cancel, saying that she had retained an attorney. The attorney later contacted officers, saying that Stone would be in a position “to repay the rest as well.”
But a representative of the club’s board later spoke with an officer and said they did not reach a repayment agreement. Stone was given a court summons on June 16.
Though Stone has been charged with this crime, it does not necessarily mean she committed it. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.