Prosecutors OK Pre-Trial Diversion Program for Boots on Ground Founder in Federal Wire Fraud Case

Federal prosecutors have signed off on the application for the Boots on Ground founder, who faces wire fraud charges for diverting donations from the non-profit, to enter a pre-trial diversion program.

Venus Azevedo-Laboda will avoid prosecution in the case if she demonstrates good conduct over the course of two years, makes $7,010 in restitution and obtains a mental health assessment and any treatment deemed necessary, according to an agreement reached Friday and filed in federal court Monday. The order still needs to be granted by a U.S. District Judge.

She pleaded not guilty to seven counts of wire fraud during an initial appearance in federal court Jan. 29, 2019.

Azevedo-Laboda founded Boots on Ground in 2014 to help veterans suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder. Her brother committed suicide two years earlier. He was a hospital corpsman in the Navy who served in Afghanistan.

In February 2019, an attorney announced the charity would be dissolved.

The wire fraud happened while Azevedo-Laboda maintained accounts for herself and the organization at the same bank from June 2014 to around December 2015, according to the indictment, which was handed down Jan. 8.

Investigators allege she solicited monetary donations primarily in the form of cash and checks then deposited the donations into her own personal bank account.

Azevedo-Laboda on numerous occasions used the debit card for the organization's bank account to pay personal bills, which included FirstEnergy, Time Warner, National Fuel Gas and Erie Water Works, the indictment said.