Little League treasurer charged with theft of more than $200,000

The treasurer of a youth sports league that weeks ago reported the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of dollars was released on bond Friday, following her arrest on one count of grant larceny in excess of $100,000.

Ahnaysa Kristina Turner, the treasurer of Sarasota Little League since 2022 and a member of the organization’s executive board, was taken into custody Thursday at the Sarasota County Jail in connection with more than $207,000 in unauthorized spending and withdrawls from league bank accounts.

Image courtesy of Sarasota County Jail

Turner, 35, was released from the Sarasota County Jail on $25,000 bond, according to jail records.

In an arrest affidavit, investigator Brent McComas of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office reported the league president Alexis Meininghaus was alerted in July by vendors to delinquent accounts requiring payment. Meininghaus told McComas “she was unaware of any delinquent invoices owed by the SLL because the defendant (Turner) would always indicate all debts were current at monthly board meetings.’’

According to the arrest affidavit, the league identified more than 160 offseason ATM withdrawls totaling more than $159,000 between November 2022 and September 2025; $14,527.15 worth of unauthorized Amazon purchases on a league credit card and 120 in-season ATM cash transactions totaling $95,670, of which $63,780 was paid to umpires.

Turner was ordered to appear for arraignment on Dec. 12. As a condition of her release, Turner was ordered to wear a GPS-monitoring ankle bracelet and have no contact with Sarasota Little League.

Sarasota Little League has been raising money since the case was reported to the sheriff’s office in late October and told parents and supporters financial procedures would be overhauled. On a Go-Fund-Me-style site, more than $20,000 has been raised, and a fundraising event was scheduled on Saturday, Nov. 15 at Twin Lakes Park.

Meininghaus told the Observer earlier this month there was no reason to suspect a problem.

 "There were never really any red flags to make us question what was going on, so there was no reason for our board to be concerned," she said. "It's safe to say that we were given information each month, at each board meeting, that we believed to be true."

McComas reported in the arrest affidavit that “due to the neglects of the defendant in not fulfilling the financial agreements within the organization, it also caused the League to lose their 501c3 (nonprofit organization), which allows the League to be tax exempt. The SLL organization is currently working towards being reinstated as a nonprofit organization since they were unaware of the wrongdoing done by the defendant.’’