The local VFW post has dismissed its commander after former Quartermaster Cheryl Campos (not pictured) was arrested in September for alleging embezzling more than $100,000 from the veterans organization. (Staff file photo)

The fallout from a Dayton woman’s alleged embezzlement of funds from a veterans group has continued.

Mike Billings, who had served as commander of Greater Yamhill County Veterans of Foreign Post 4015 for the past 18 months, has been relieved of his duties after veterans met on two occasions this fall to consider his ouster.

Billings, an Army veteran, was called on to resign by VFW member George Edmonston Jr. at the post’s monthly meeting on Oct. 3. Edmonston said he acted in response to quartermaster Cheryl Elizabeth Campos’ arrest in the spring on allegations she bilked the post out of more than $100,000.

Edmonston said he called on Billings to resign, technically termed by the VFW as vacating the position, for two primary reasons under the organization’s bylaws: “a failure to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of the office of commander” and that commanders cannot conduct business for the post in such a manner as to bring dishonor or embarrassment to the post or its members.

“He refused to resign, which then pushed the proceedings to the guidelines for removing a post commander as outlined by the national bylaws of the VFW,” Edmonston said, adding that VFW bylaws require members to vote at consecutive meetings before taking action against a commander. “To pass, the bylaws require a two-thirds majority vote at each meeting. The vote in October was 8-3 to call for the November vote. The vote on Nov. 7 was 11-1 to ‘vacate the position.’”

A quick appointment

What happened next took Edmonston totally by surprise: the post voted to name him the next commander.

“I was blindsided,” he said. “A nomination and then a vote was taken. I gladly and was honored to accept the appointment. It was my turn to step up and help out in this way.”

The process to ouster Billings was overseen by a representative of the state VFW organization. Adjutant Quartermaster Brandi Olmstead acknowledged in early November that the state VFW organization is working with law enforcement to determine if Campos had embezzled funds from the state organization as well.

Campos was quartermaster for the state district for nine years. Former Post 4015 adjutant and current member Grover Jones said that he has been told that there is $1.7 million missing from that body’s account as well. The state organization didn’t know the money was missing until her alleged transgressions were revealed in the spring.

Campos remains in jail

Campos, 61, who studied accounting at Chemeketa Community College and was a document specialist at Newberg dental manufacturing giant A-dec, has not been charged in the state case.

She was fired as Post 4015 quartermaster in April and detained in early September after a warrant was issued for her arrest by Yamhill County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Chapman. She remains in the Yamhill County jail after a grand jury returned an indictment against her for 11 counts of aggravated theft and three counts of first-degree theft, which are Class B and Class C felonies, respectively. Her next court date is slated for January.

Edmonston said the post has not been kept apprised of the state investigation.

“Post 4015 has not and is not involved in the case at the state level,” he said. “We have not been advised of anything going on in the investigation and await results just like everyone else.”

Troubling allegations by veterans against one of their own
The indictment returned by the grand jury in September alleges that over a roughly two-year period from June 2022 through August of this year, Campos stole a minimum of $114,000 from the VFW post. All the money, the indictment insists, was taken from two accounts over which Campos had authority. The indictment also alleges that she pilfered $10,000 or more on 10 occasions and $1,000 or more on three occasions.

A judge set Campos’ bail at $500,000. Campos retained Salem attorney Jeffrey Jorgensen to represent her. Once retained, Jorgensen immediately filed an objection to the introduction of any report, statement of experts or other materials concerning the use of controlled substances by his client. Court records didn’t indicate why Jorgensen filed that objection.

‘Where is the money going?’

News of Campos’ activities was broken to the VFW post by Jones on Sept. 17. He and the other veterans had suspected that something was amiss with the post’s finances.

“There were questions: Where is the money going?” Jones said.

The post — which merged in 2021 with VFW groups in Dayton, parts of McMinnville and some outlying areas to become the Greater Yamhill County VFW Post 4015 after experiencing a precipitous drop in membership — had sold its VFW hall in Newberg several years ago for about $180,000. The money was placed in a CD account to fund their activities and to help fellow veterans.

Signs emerged that the post was in financial trouble when it was revealed it couldn’t muster the roughly $600 in monthly rent to store records and other items at a local church.

“That raised some eyebrows, because the whole idea when the transfer was made, well, there was almost $200,000 in our account, certainly we can pay the rent to the Friends church. So, that raised some red flags,” Jones said.

The deficits prompted the post to look at audit reports from 2023.

“And the numbers just didn’t look right,” he added. “There was an expenditure in the fourth quarter for $29,000, which nobody could explain, and there aren’t any minutes from meetings where people had approved it.”

Post officials questioned Campos, but to no avail.

“She really couldn’t answer the questions,” Jones said, adding that Campos said she would look into the errors, but never got back to him.

When the post’s account declined to $3,000, Jones said he introduced a motion to commission an audit by an accountant. It was approved unanimously by the group at a cost of $5,000.

The results of the audit caused the bank that holds the account to become concerned as there were many irregularities, including money being transferred that shouldn’t be. The bank threatened to close the account, Jones said.

“It went downhill from there and it was obviously something terrible was going on,” he added.