The former director of a now-shuttered nonprofit in Pierce County that offered services to people dealing with substance abuse and other challenges pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing money from the organization and improperly handling funds.
Rena Kay Thompson, 38, pleaded guilty in Superior Court to first-degree theft, first-degree identity theft and money laundering while she was executive director of Recovery Cafe Orting Valley.
Thompson, who has no criminal history, was sentenced as a first-time offender to 90 days of house arrest on electronic home monitoring followed by six months of community custody. Prosecutors said they did not yet have an agreed restitution, but it was likely to amount to tens of thousands of dollars.
First-degree theft has a standard sentencing range of 0-90 days in jail for defendants with an offender score of zero, and first-degree identity theft has a standard sentencing range of three to nine months in jail. The maximum penalty for both offenses is 10 years in prison. The max sentence for money laundering is five years.
The defendant improperly used about $190,000 of the Recovery Cafe’s funds while overseeing its financial accounts sometime between June 2022 and August 2023, according to court records. Multiple bank accounts were opened without approval from the nonprofit’s board, and short-term, high-interest loans amounting to more than $150,000 with interest rates up to 70 percent APR were taken out under the organization’s name with Thompson signing as the guarantor.
Thompson also was accused of using the unauthorized bank accounts to make payments for personal expenses. Court records state she took trips to Las Vegas with the nonprofit’s money and bought a mattress and a pool. She also spent over $31,000 on Amazon purchases, $6,000 on CashApp transfers and withdrew over $23,000 in cash from the nonprofit.
How much Thompson’s crimes contributed to the closure of the Recovery Cafe in Orting is unclear. Deputy prosecuting attorney Matthew Thomas said in court that “a number of factors” contributed to the closure after Judge Pro Tempore Jerry Costello asked if Thompson’s crimes contributed.
The Recovery Cafe Network did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. The first Recovery Cafe opened in Seattle in 2004, and a network of member organizations began in 2016, which is now made up of dozens of Recovery Cafes across the country.
Kelsey Page, Thompson’s attorney from the Department of Assigned Counsel, said in court that her client had very little accounting training when she was hired as Recovery Cafe Orting Valley’s executive director in October 2019. Page said as the nonprofit grew rapidly, so did Thompson’s financial responsibilities
Thompson was “underwater” with making payroll, Page said, and she made decisions like taking out high-interest loans to pay employees when there wasn’t enough money in the bank.
“This is different than the cases where it is a sophisticated, ongoing plan, and that just wasn’t the case here,” Page said.
Thompson earned a masters of science, management and leadership from Western Governors University — an online university in Utah — in August 2022, according to the defense’s sentencing memorandum. The curriculum was focused on people management and included minimal to no education on tax law, accounting or bookkeeping.
She resigned from her position at the Recovery Cafe in August 2023 after concerns about her financial accounting and tax duties in the organization began to surface and her colleagues encouraged her to resign, according to the defense’s sentencing memorandum.
Prosecutors charged her in April 2024. Aside from one night she spent in the Pierce County Jail prior to her arraignment, she has remained out of custody on her personal recognizance for the duration of the case.
When it was her turn to speak, Thompson told the court she was “extremely remorseful” for everything and she was sorry for her actions.
“I should have sought help in a different, in a way that was appropriate, and not try to fix things in the way that I did and not do the things I did that were out of my scope,” Thompson said.
Costello commended Thompson for stepping up and taking responsibility for her actions. He agreed with her attorney about the long-term effects of her felony convictions, which the defense attorney said would dramatically change the course of her employment future.
“All is not lost,” Costell said. “There’s always hope. You can get past this.”