Executive Director of Suicide Prevention Organization Charged with Swindling

(Learfield News/Monticello, MN) — Prosecutors say the executive director of a Minnesota suicide prevention nonprofit stole nearly $220,000 from the organization.

Forty-six-year-old Ryan Obermoller of Monticello is charged in Sherburne County with two felony counts of theft by swindling.

In August, leaders of Dylan’s Hope Foundation, created after the 2013 death of Becker High School student Dylan Aaseby, reported concerns to law enforcement.

After a fundraising discrepancy surfaced, Obermoller admitted to taking more than $170,000 since 2020 and said he had repaid $22,000.

An investigation later found the total loss was just under $220,000.

Records show Obermoller wrote checks to himself and then altered the payee in QuickBooks to make it appear the money went elsewhere.