Montgomery County attorney accused of stealing $300,000 from nonprofit

POTTSTOWN, Pa. (WPVI) -- A Pottstown attorney has been accused of embezzling $300,000 from a nonprofit.

Adam Sager, 56, who now lives in Florida, has been charged with stealing funds from Carousel of Pottstown, a nonprofit that runs the second oldest operating wooden carousel in the country.

The theft occurred in 2019, but the current board only now discovered the missing money.

"We just recently stopped having hours on Sundays because of finances," said Deborah McFarlin, event planner for the nonprofit.

The funds that were promised to help fix the carousel's home never showed, or so it seemed.

"It was shocking, quite frankly," said McFarlin.

Police say the theft occurred when Sager was on the board and renovations were being planned for the carousel and the warehouse it resides in.

"I felt he was doing something to help the carousel. And I didn't realize what he was doing behind our backs," said Mark Saylor, president of the board.

According to charging documents, the nonprofit decided to ask for community help to fund renovations. Sager said he would ask a Pottstown philanthropist Barry Sankey.

Police say Sager falsified board documents and kept the $300,000 donation for himself to pay off an unrelated civil suit.

"We realized that he had written a check to Total Rental, and we had never had any dealings with Total Rental that would warrant a $295,000 check sent to them," said McFarlin. "Then we found the check that Barry Sankey donated to us for $300,000 and he put that back into the account."

No renovations were ever made at the carousel.

Sankey passed away in 2020.

Police have a warrant out for Sager's arrest.

For the board, justice for the carousel has a price.

"Restitution for what we lost, justice for what he did," said Saylor.