Former youth football director pleads guilty to embezzling league funds
Fayette, Greene teams among impacted
The former director of a youth football league in the Pittsburgh area who embezzled hundreds of thousands from the organization over the past several years pleaded guilty last week.
William Spencer, 57, of Canton Township, appeared Wednesday at the Washington County Courthouse before President Judge Valarie Costanzo and entered an open guilty plea in connection with theft from the Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League.
Spencer pleaded guilty to one felony count of theft by unlawful taking and misdemeanor charges of receiving stolen property and misapplication of entrusted property, according to the state Attorney General’s office, which prosecuted the case.
Spencer was arrested in January after investigators said he funneled about $235,000 from the Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League into his bank account from 2020 until he resigned from his leadership position early last year.
Some of the league’s members became concerned in March 2025 about the organization’s finances and lack of payment to its insurance provider, prompting an emergency meeting between the executive board and many of the 44 teams in the league. A day before the meeting at the Washington County Fairgrounds, Spencer submitted his resignation letter and also allegedly admitted to a friend that he “f-ed up,” according to court documents.
Following the emergency board meeting, the league’s new leadership team contacted the Washington County District Attorney’s office, which forwarded the case to the state Attorney General’s office.
Investigators traced the thefts back to early 2020 and found numerous fraudulent purchases and checks made out to Spencer while masquerading as legitimate expenses that year despite the football season being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Investigators found 187 fraudulent checks totaling $231,939 and about $3,000 in other payments up until the time Spencer resigned from his director’s position last March when other board members became concerned about the league’s financial situation, leading to the emergency board meeting and the request of a financial audit. Spencer used the league’s funds for cash withdrawals, utility bills, credit card payments and purchases at various stores, websites and restaurants, while even using some of the money to bolster his retirement account, investigators said.
The league raised money through ticket sales at games and various fundraising drives, but the league’s financial situation became so strained that Spencer never sent the annual payment to its insurance provider in 2024. The organization was almost dropped by the carrier before the newly appointed interim treasurer made the payment last year, according to court documents.
Spencer was appointed in 2013 to lead the organization’s precursor known then as the Washington/Greene Youth Football League, and he continued in that role when it expanded and was renamed the Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League in 2021. The league has a total of 44 local organizations that supply teams from Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene and Washington counties, with three divisions for youths in grades first through sixth.
He is scheduled to be sentenced by Costanzo at 3 p.m. Oct. 6. His defense attorney, Lane Turturice, could not be reached for comment Monday.