The Whitworthian

Issue date: 10/9/07 Last Updated: 10/11/07

The last few years of Nancy Huegli's life have been nightmarish, says her son.

The 92-year-old Bellevue woman fears to display her nameplate on the door of her room in an assisted living facility outside of Seattle after she was allegedly conned out of nearly $150,000 by a former Whitworth trustee.

Some of those funds might have gone to Whitworth in the form of donations.

Tom Delanty, the former trustee, goes on trial Oct. 15 in King County Superior Court, charged with multiple counts of fraud, including 25 counts of theft of monies from Huegli, King County Deputy Prosecutor Scott Peterson said.

Huegli and her family have also filed a civil suit against Delanty. That trial has been stayed by the court until the criminal trial is over, said Jim Huegli, Nancy's son.

"When he (allegedly) stole money from her, she had 20 percent hearing. She was house bound. She couldn't walk. She was blind in her left eye and had partial vision in her right eye," Jim Huegli said. "She was completely vulnerable."

Whitworth alumna Vida Delanty, Delanty's wife, grew up next door to Nancy Huegli, according to King County court records. After Nancy's husband of 50 years died in 1992, Tom Delanty befriended her and offered to help with her taxes, according to the records.

Between 2000 and 2005, Tom Delanty wrote personal checks from Nancy Huegli's account to his daughter, wife and business, Jim Huegli said. Every month, Delanty would take the rent checks from Nancy Huegli's properties to the bank and pocket $1,000 in cash, Jim Huegli claimed.

Jim Huegli said he believes a Delanty conviction would be an automatic victory in the civil suit as the criminal conviction will be applied to the civil liability. He said the Huegli family expects Delanty to plead guilty or be convicted.

"If he pleads guilty, his prison time will be much less than if a jury convicts him of all 29 (25) felony counts," Huegli claimed.

Nancy Huegli is one of several people who have tried to reclaim their losses in lawsuits. King County resident Michiko Vincent filed a criminal complaint in January and a civil suit that asks for about $500,000 in damages, according to King County court records.

Vida Delanty answered the couple's home phone but said her husband could not be reached for comment at that time.

Around the time Delanty fell out of favor with Nancy Huegli, he also began to fall out of favor with Whitworth's Board of Trustees and administration.

Delanty resigned from the Board in 2005 after disagreements with Whitworth over management of its endowment and investments. He had served on the Board since 1998.

Delanty was arrested in July 2006 for theft charges related to Nancy Huegli, just 11 months after his resignation from Whitworth's Board of Trustees.

Criminal background
Vice President for Institutional Advancement Kristi Burns, who worked closely with Delanty and other top donors, said Whitworth did not conduct a background check on Delanty because at the time the college did not perform criminal background checks on any new trustees.

Delanty told Whitworth trustees and administrators he had degrees from Harvard University and Dartmouth College, managed 37 different companies located in the United States and abroad including Asia and Europe, held the titles of CEO of a business in France, a small CPA practice and a CFO or managing partner in several of his businesses, according to court records.

What Whitworth failed to see was Delanty's criminal record- a 1983 conviction for mail fraud in Oregon.

According to court records, Delanty did not have a Harvard graduate degree, he did not manage a corporation with nearly $1 billion in revenue and was never personal assistant to Mrs. Nelson Rockefeller, The Seattle Times reported in January.

Whitworth now conducts background checks on all its potential employees, including new trustees, according to a Nov. 14, 2006 article in The Whitworthian.

"At the time we did not do background checks," Burns said. "We do now."

Burns said Delanty served as chair of the endowment committee, a subcommittee of the finance committee and had a lot of good expertise.

"He was a good chair," Burns said. "He was very analytical and he helped improve our reports to the trustees."

Delanty also served as chair to the Masters in International Management program.

Long-time donor
In addition to serving on committees and the Board, Burns said Delanty was a long-time donor to the institution. Whitworth's conversations with Delanty about donations date back to 1992, according to court records.

According to Whitworth records, Delanty gave about $216,000 to Whitworth from 1998 to 2005, including a $32,000 music collection.

More recently, Burns said Delanty sent a $1,000 check to Whitworth for the new art building.

"He sent a donation and we returned it to him based on the pending court case," Burns said.

Burns said a mailing was sent out this spring seeking donors for the new art building.

"We just didn't pull him out of the mailing list and he received that," Burns said.

Delanty gave to Whitworth at a time of unprecedented growth for the institution. Whitworth boasts higher enrollment and stronger academics, according to the university Web site. A new residence hall was built in 2006 and a new visual arts building is currently under construction.

Whitworth has been fund raising more in the past few years than ever before in the school's history, Burns said.

In 1999, Delanty made a verbal $75,000 pledge to the Science Center, associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement Stacey Smith said.

However, in a conversation between Smith and Delanty in January 1998, Delanty reportedly mentioned he would contribute a sum to Whitworth's Science Center.

"[Delanty and Smith] also discussed his $150,000 gift to the science building and he wants to make this happen," according to court documents.

Delanty fulfilled only $9,650 of that pledge, according to Whitworth's records.

Former Vice President for Business Affairs Tom Johnson complained of under-funding due to Delanty's delay in fulfilling his pledge, in a February 2005 memo to President Bill Robinson and Burns.

The memo states that a $105,000 balance was still unpaid on the science building remodel and renovations from 1999. Johnson wrote that half of that balance was due to Delanty's unfulfilled pledge.

"Beyond the amount owed by Tom, we had originally planned on receiving an additional $50,000 amount from his clients," Johnson wrote.

Because Delanty refused to formally commit to giving the amount by signing a pledge statement, Johnson wrote that the college would have to write off the outstanding pledge.

Delanty was often hesitant to sign pledge statements, which was slightly unusual for a donor, but not unheard of, Burns said.

Campaign contributions
Delanty also contributed money to the political campaign of Whitworth trustee Shaun Cross, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2004.

According to CampaignMoney.com, Delanty gave $1,000 to Cross' campaign.

Cross, who has been on the Board since 2002, said he had spoken to Delanty on the phone when Delanty called all the trustees asking for support in his run for a congressional seat.

Cross said he only knew Delanty in the context of the biannual Board meetings, which is not unusual.

"He seemed like a bright individual who was very supportive of Whitworth and who also supported its mission," Cross said.

Whitworth's stake
Director of Communications Greg Orwig said Whitworth will do what is right if a court finds Delanty gave other people's money to Whitworth.

"If it's ever clearly documented that money Mr. Delanty allegedly stole from someone else was part of the gifts given to Whitworth, we will make that victim whole," Orwig said. "We will return that money."

King County Deputy Prosecutor Scott Peterson said he did not see why Whitworth would have to refund the money as they did not know it was allegedly stolen.

"It's unfortunate that Whitworth got dragged into this," Peterson said.

Echoing Peterson's regret with Whitworth's involvement, Jim Huegli said he hopes Whitworth has learned its lesson.

"I don't think Whitworth is any more of a victim than my mother was," Huegli said. "They were equally scammed by a very slick professional scammer."

Contact Jessica Davis at jessica.davis@whitworthian.com.

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