Couple Steals $73K from Boise Police to Spend on Beer

So sad. Boise police officer Mark Furniss and his wife, Sara, stole $73,800 from the Treasure Valley Lodge #11 Fraternal Order of Police from January 2011 to January 2016 it has been discovered.

According to court documents which the Idaho Statesman details, Furniss and his wife misused the charitable organization funds for at least five years to pay for luxury items, baseball tickets and beer.

The couple was caught in February, when Mark Furniss allegedly used his FOB credit card to purchase Pittsburgh Pirate baseball tickets and $540 in items from Lowe’s. The Order requires that purchases over $300 need to be cleared by the board.

After reviewing the purchases, the FOB board realized that a majority of the purchases the couple were making, were clearly not for the FOP lodge. This lead the Treasure Valley Lodge to provide information to the Meridian Police, who conflicted the case out to the Nampa Police.

Sara Furniss worked with her husband, as a secretary for the FOB group, which raises money for officers injured or killed in the line of duty.

In a meeting with officers, Sara Furniss admitted that she began abusing her position in 2008 when her and her husband began experiencing financial problems. Allegedly, Ms. Furness set her cable and phone bill to automatically be deducted from the FOB account after realizing she wouldn’t be able to pay it herself.

She also admitted that the couple needed $2,700 for a down payment on a $13,000 travel trailer. Naturally, since she didn’t want to touch her or her husband’s savings, she wrote an FOP check to herself.

Both Mark and Sara Furniss have preliminary hearings scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on December 23^rd at the Ada County Courthouse.