A church worship leader allegedly embezzled thousands of dollars from the Performing Arts Council of Edmond, a parent-run booster club that supports music and theater programs at Edmond Memorial High School, according to a police report and the organization’s leaders.
Filed with the Edmond Police Department for “documentation purposes only,” the report alleges Kyle Owen made 112 fraudulent transactions totaling $11,890.17 from PACE while serving as its president during the 2024-2025 school years. According to its website, the organization “provides funds for equipment, parties, events, and supplies each year” to Edmond Memorial’s performing arts programs, along with placing parents in volunteer roles as chaperones or concessions workers at sporting events.
After being confronted about the questionable expenses, Owen repaid the $11,890.17 in two payments on June 24, according to email records and members of PACE’s governing board.
A spreadsheet prepared by PACE president Danielle Briseno sheds light on the nature of the malfeasance. Flagged transactions included:
- $323.43 spent at Discount Tire;
- $467.79 spent on tickets from SeatGeek;
- 13 Venmo payments to two accounts with the same names as his daughters totaling $988;
- $211.09 paid to MyEyeDr;
- $160 spent at The Lounge; and
- $102.34 spent at Crumbl Cookies.
April Dinger served as PACE’s treasurer from May 5 until June 22 and helped identify the concerning transactions. While she emphasized a great appreciation for PACE, Edmond Public Schools and the students involved in arts classes, Dinger said she resigned as treasurer amid frustration with how the organization was responding to the financial fiasco.
“Nothing is going to get better if we don’t keep people accountable,” Dinger said. “And I’m not going to be afraid of being that person that holds people accountable, because all of this is so wrong. It’s so wrong.”
Other parents in the PACE organization, however, felt differently.
As an EPS-sanctioned booster club, PACE is governed by a board and several chairpersons responsible for various committees. At a June 24 meeting, the board and chairpersons voted on whether to report Owen’s actions to the Edmond Police Department.
According to a timeline of events prepared by and shared by PACE board secretary Jessica Anderson, one member of the organization voted to press charges, 11 voted to press charges if the money were not returned within an agreed-upon timeline, six voted against pressing charges no matter what, and four abstained.
With the money repaid, ultimately the organization’s leaders filed the report with EPD but said they did not want to see Owen charged.
EPD public information officer Emily Ward said “the case is closed” and referred NonDoc to the police report for further details.
Owen did not respond to requests for comment about the situation ahead of the publication of this article.
“It was really shocking and just so incredibly disappointing,” Anderson said. “It was disappointing that it was Kyle who did it. He has had two children go through the program, and he and his wife were incredibly involved and beloved by a lot of people. (…) It has been a horrible, horrible, horrible few months. And I do not know how else to say it — it has been awful, and I hope nobody ever has to go through a situation like this ever again.”
Dinger agreed with Anderson that the “chaos” caused by Owen’s actions and the organization’s attempt to keep him out of trouble have created a rough start to the 2025-2026 school year.
“They voted, and after that, I decided that I’m not going to be a part of this anymore, and so I stepped down as my role as treasurer because I did not agree with the way that they were going about this,” Dinger said. “I said, ‘This is wrong, and something bad is going to happen,’ and so I got the fuck out.”
Despite Owen repaying the funds, Dinger said he has been “nonchalant” and has not seemed to acknowledge the problems he caused.
“He did not even admit to any of this. He is not sorry, and I think that is part of what really does bother (me),” she said. “I am not trying to destroy PACE. I am literally just trying to get accountability from someone that stole from our children.”
Dinger’s husband, Robert, said Owen “stole from every one of us” who worked Edmond Memorial concession stands throughout the school year, and he found it ironic that a Christian church worship leader would so brazenly violate the Eighth Commandment.
“Practicing what you preach is something that people struggle with in their own lives, and he just does not seem to care,” Robert Dinger said. “We are concerned that all of these people that are covering up for him or trying to move past this, that they are worried that they are going to get in trouble for some reason. (…) It is this dude that did everything, and everyone is just afraid that is is all going to come crashing down around them.”
April Dinger said she expects that “people are going to be so mad” at her for speaking publicly.
“And that is fine. I am doing what is right because I believe in what is right,” Dinger said. “I’m not a criminal.”
CFO ‘not sure’ if EPS had ‘fiduciary duty’ to report irregularities
From a school district perspective, Edmond Public Schools officials have been relatively quiet about the situation.
At the EPS Board of Education’s Sept. 8 meeting, District 5 Rep. Marcus Jones questioned EPS chief financial officer Jim Dobson about the district’s role in overseeing sanctioned organizations’ finances. Jones asked Dobson if the district had a “fiduciary duty” to report irregularities to law enforcement or State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd.
Dobson said he was “not sure” about the answer to that question.
“When we find irregularities, like we did this year, we reported it to our outside attorney and seeked his counsel on what to do,” Dobson said.
Jones fired back that the district’s current sanctioning process for outside organizations is flawed.
“I think some of the financial statements that you are receiving can be falsified, and you would not know they are falsified,” Jones said. “Once you realize they are falsified, they are still a sanctioned organization.”
On Oct. 7, NonDoc requested PACE financial records, EPS’ sanctioning documents and Dobson’s email correspondence with PACE leaders about the embezzlement allegations against Owen.
EPS director of communications Jeff Bardach said PACE’s QuickBooks records are not maintained by the district and that there are no formal agreements or contracts between PACE and EPS. The district had not released Dobson’s emails by the publication of this article.
Bardach said EPS has requested an audit of the PACE organization, but he said PACE would be responsible for finding and paying “someone certified, knowledgeable and experienced to conduct the audit.”
Jones declined to comment about the situation.
That has left EPS parents associated with Edmond Memorial High School and PACE to tell the story themselves. In an effort to be transparent and rebuild trust, Anderson explained how the PACE board determined the amount of money Owen allegedly misspent.
“Danielle (Briseno) and I met with all four members of the previous board and went line by line to look at each transaction and see whether it was something that we had a receipt for, and even if we had a receipt, was it a receipt that was an approved expense or a legitimate expense? And so each member of the board had to say, if Kyle (Owen) was saying, ‘Yes this is legitimate, here is the receipt,’ we then verified with each member of (the board), ‘Was this an approved expense? Is it legitimate?’ And then they had to agree. If they did not agree, then Kyle took it on as part of his reimbursement,” Anderson explained. “By the time we went line by line, we either had a receipt that was approved or legitimate, or it went back to Kyle. So there were some things that he did not have receipts for, and/or were very clearly personal expenses, and so those were in his bucket to pay back.”
According to the timeline Anderson shared, Owen agreed to repay the $11,890 on June 22. Two days later — the same day the PACE board voted — he repaid the funds through a $1,890 personal check and a $10,000 cashier’s check.
Owen serves as director of worship arts at New Covenant Church in Edmond. Like Owen, New Covenant Church’s director of communications also did not respond to a request for comment.
“He is passionate about helping others use their artistic gifts to worship God and find ways to live out a life of worship every day,” Owen’s bio on the church website states. “Kyle enjoys spending time with his family, never turns down an opportunity to have a party with friends, outdoor activities, home projects, and woodworking.”
According to Briseno, a desire to move on from the incident and focus on EMH students constituted the driving force behind PACE leaders’ decision not to pursue criminal charges.
“We have had our kids’ best interest at heart. We knew that would cost their money and also cost time and energy away from them,” Briseno said.
Elaborating on the need to focus on students, Anderson wrote in an emailed statement to NonDoc that the board is confident in its handling of the situation, which she said “ensured the hundreds of kids involved in our programs and their directors” were not impacted.
“At the heart of everything we do are our students — their talent, growth and extraordinary potential. We do not want to be defined as one bad chapter, or by the actions of one person, but by the magic created when gifted directors, dedicated families and hard-working students come together,” Anderson wrote.
‘No one kept track of the finances’
As she looks at the organization as a whole, Briseno believes PACE finds itself in financial trouble because of the previous board’s overall lack of oversight, not Owen’s misspending, since those funds have been returned.
According to a document detailing the situation, which Anderson said she and Briseno read to board members and chairpersons at the June 24 emergency meeting, PACE’s bank balances as of May 31 were roughly $7,000 compared to $37,000 in 2024.
“No one kept track of the finances the entire year. Not a single board member, and that is why one of the board members was removed from the board, because the school said they could not stay on,” Briseno said. “It was more the mismanagement that left the account so low.”
Bardach contradicted Briseno’s claim regarding a board member being asked to leave, saying the district did not ask PACE to remove any members of the board. He also said the district cannot comment further because sanctioned organizations operate independently.
According to the timeline Anderson shared, Jenny Rottmayer — who was on the board last year — was elected to serve on this year’s board May 5. Rottmayer resigned either June 17 or 18, Anderson said. During a June 19 meeting with the district, “district representatives reiterated that it was the right decision for both Jenny and PACE to start fresh,” Anderson wrote. Rottmayer has continued to serve as social media chairperson, a non-board role.
No members of the 2024-2025 PACE board remain part of the current year’s board. Rottmayer and Dinger’s positions were filled at the June 24 meeting. Rottmayer did not respond to requests for comment, neither did former board member Katy Boyle.
In a separate timeline of events created by former board treasurer Chris Rosacker, he outlined how he provided financial logins to Owen upon Owen’s request. Rosacker wrote that, on May 27, he confronted Owen for “another [usurping] of my position.”
In an emailed statement, Rosacker distanced himself from both Owen’s actions and the financial practices that led to PACE’s current low balance.
“As treasurer during my time with PACE, I was involved in standard financial oversight and reporting duties, but I had no involvement — nor responsibility for — the financial situation that is the subject of your inquiry. That distinction is very important,” Rosacker wrote. “I care deeply about PACE, its mission and the students it supports. It is heartbreaking to see the challenges the organization has faced, and I sincerely hope for its continued success.”
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PACE ‘continuing to move forward’ at EMHS
With funds depleted, the PACE organization instituted fees for students participating in performing arts electives this school year.
“We decided that we would do what most sports and arts classes and things like that do and have a class fee in order to get us to a place where we can fund productions and fund some other things,” Anderson said. “We do hope to get back to a place where we do not have to do that, but we felt confident that most people are used to paying for their electives.”
Asked if she felt Owen had been held accountable to an adequate level, Anderson said she was unable to answer.
“I cannot say one way or another. You make a decision, and you move forward. We got our money back.” Anderson said. “Do I wish there was more we could do? Sometimes, yeah, I do. But I also know that we have an entire program to move forward with, and I cannot spend all my time trying to make him do something, or you know, press charges.”
As a result of the last tumultuous year, PACE leaders voted to implement new bylaws to guide board member conduct Oct. 21.
“We also updated our bylaws just to make sure that it was clear, you know, what the member’s role is in updating budgets, what the member’s role is if they have any concerns, and then just making very clear what our financial parameters are,” Anderson said.
PACE fundraisers
Currently, PACE parents and students are selling Butter Braid Pastry items as part of a Fall 2025 fundraiser. They are also accepting direct donations.
The board’s overhauled membership presents an opportunity to leave past malfeasance and mismanagement behind, according to Daniel Freno, who joined the board as treasurer June 24.
Freno said he saw an opportunity to use his skills — he is a surgeon and has undergraduate degrees in mathematics and physics — to help move the organization forward.
“I think they did a fantastic job of combing through every single transaction to get all (of) this stuff sorted out without any additional help,” Freno said. “The organization is continuing to move forward and serve the students.”
Owen’s reported misspending is not the first time a booster club president has taken money intended for students in Edmond. In 2015, Stacey Torre pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 10 years of incarceration — with all suspended except for 90 days in the Oklahoma County Jail — for embezzling funds from Edmond Santa Fe High School’s cheer booster club during her time as its president, according to News 9. Lori Smith, then EPS’s chief financial officer, told News 9 that her staff caught the misuse during an annual audit.
Read the EPD report about the PACE case
