Complaints about a butterfly garden lead to fraud charges for woman

A woman is facing fraud charges after police say complaints about a butterfly garden led them to discover that she was accepting donations as president of the North American Butterfly Association Manasota Chapter — but the chapter no longer exists and not all of the money was used for the garden.

Nancy Ambrose, 58, was arrested Wednesday and charged with scheme to defraud under $20,000, operating an unlicensed charity and soliciting as charity without authorization. She was released from the Manatee County jail on Thursday on bonds totaling $4,500.

Holmes Beach Police Chief William L. Tokajer said a review of the butterfly association’s records showed Ambrose, the manager of the Beach Market at Coquina Beach, received about $3,500 a year in donations from arts and crafts fairs held on Anna Maria Island, and that money was suppose to go toward the butterfly garden.

“A review of the bank records showed that there were several purchases made from the account that were not for the butterfly garden and were for personal use,” Tokajer said in a statement.

In October 2008, Ambrose entered into an agreement with the city of Holmes Beach to maintain and assume responsibility of a butterfly garden next to city hall as the North American Butterfly Association Manasota Chapter’s president, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

But six years later, the city began receiving complaints that the garden was not being maintained and that memorial brick pavers she was selling were either taking too long or never were delivered. In February 2016, the city took control of the garden and informed police.

An investigation revealed that the North American Butterfly Association Manasota Chapter had been dissolved on July 1, 2011, and that Ambrose, a member, had no authority to use the association’s name or paperwork for fundraising.

Ambrose also never registered the North American Butterfly Association Manasota Chapter with the Florida Department of Agriculture, according to the report.

On April 26, Detective Sgt. Brian Hall first contacted and asked her to come to the police station for questioning and to bring her financial records and proof of the butterfly group’s nonprofit status. Ambrose delayed by making several attempts to get the detective to meet her at a bank instead.

“She said she would have one of the cleanest bank records for an organization I have ever looked at,” Hall wrote in the report.

When Hall called Ambrose again on May 8 regarding a meeting, she refused, saying she felt harassed and that further questions could be directed to her attorney, police said.

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 1:29 PM with the headline "Complaints about a butterfly garden lead to fraud charges for woman."