A Florida woman has been arrested after she allegedly stole more than $32,000 from the cheerleading organization where she worked as a coach. Amanda Herdon was the leader of Cheer Crush, a nonprofit that raised money to pay for uniforms and other costs for young cheerleaders. However, she decided to help herself to some of the cash to pay for her Botox habit, among other things, News4Jax reports.
- Amanda Herdon stole access to Cheer Crush’s VyStar account. She used that access to steal Crush Cheerleading’s funds “to get Botox injections, pay her personal cell phone bill, pay vet bills, purchase concert tickets, multiple Amazon purchases, and other various purchases that were not related to the Crush Cheerleading business,” an arrest warrant reads.
- She was quite flagrant with her spending of the money. One of the purchases outlined on the arrest affidavit was six tickets to see Morgan Wallen. If that doesn’t tell you all you need to know, I don’t know what will.
- Herdon was caught on camera making many of her purchases. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office said there was plenty of surveillance footage of her shopping with the cheerleading money at Home Dept, Bit Lots, Walgreens, and more. Police showed the videos to another staff member of Crush Cheer, who identified Amanda Herdon as the person in the clips.
- Parents, of course, are extremely upset. They believed the organization was doing the best by the kids, which is why Herdon’s crimes have been so shocking. “I felt all kinds of emotions. I felt sadness because we trusted this person and we thought that this person truly cared about our kids,” Clariss Mathieu, one of the parents at Crush Cheer, told News4Jax. “I felt anger because cheer season is not cheap. We spend thousands on each season.”
- Herdon was arrested on September 2. She’s now facing grand theft charges for her crimes. She was caught after Crush Cheer’s vice president and the secretary looked into the organization’s bank account and noticed some odd transactions dating back to 2021. That’s when they decided to alert police, who looked into the matter.
- Crush Cheer has now dispersed. Thanks to Herdon’s crimes, the co-directors of the organization have dissolved Crush Cheer and now run their own gym so that the kids still have a place to pursue their cheerleading passion.
