Boynton Beach man is accused of stealing about $57,000 from homeless nonprofit, cops say

A former employee for a nonprofit that helps the homeless community in Boynton Beach was arrested and charged with stealing about $57,000 from its clients.

While the alleged thefts from the clients at The Lord’s Place, in the 1700 block of Northeast Fourth Street, happened from October 2016 to December 2017, Boynton Beach police were not alerted to it until February 2018, according to the arrest report.

When officers met with the CEO and CFO of The Lord’s Place in February, they gave them a binder of evidence that they say documented how Gilbert Grantlin III stole cash that he was supposed to collect from residents for their rent and savings over 14 months, the police report said.

Police said Grantlin, 25, was hired as the campus administrator in April 2016. His main responsibility was to collect cash from residents housed on the men’s campus and then deposit it monthly to The Lord’s Place savings account.

After each cash transaction with a resident, Grantlin was required to write a receipt, giving one copy to the resident and turning in the other copy to The Lord’s Place.

The CFO discovered a discrepancy between the money in the savings account and the money that should have been collected from residents, the police report said.

He began keeping detailed records of Grantlin’s transactions. According to these records, Grantlin would allegedly take the cash from residents, give them a correct receipt and then pocket a portion of the money, the police report said.

For many of the transactions, Grantlin allegedly altered the receipts he turned into The Lord’s Place.

From the CFO’s tally, Grantlin is accused of stealing $56,767.16 — $33,069.63 was meant for the residents as savings, $23,697.53 was meant for rent. The Lord’s Place told police that the residents have not been affected financially.

The CEO and CFO approached Grantlin in December 2017 and he admitted to the thefts, according to the police report.

He also emailed them saying he apologizes for his actions of “mistrust, deceit and greed” and promised to pay the money back, the report said. It’s unclear if he tried to pay back any funds.

A detective tried to get in contact with Grantlin, but according to the police report, he “procrastinated arranging to meet with me and then stopped answering my phone calls.”

Grantlin faces one count of grand theft between $20,000 and $100,000. He was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on June 21 and released June 22 after posting a $5,000 bond.

This story was originally published July 2, 2019 at 7:21 PM.