Leah Smillie, (Hall County Department of Corrections, Courtesy)
GRAND ISLAND – The executive director of First Light Child Advocacy Center in Grand Island is accused of taking $24,885 from the center’s funds between July 2023 and February 2025.
Leah Smillie, 53, of 619 Meves Ave. is charged in Hall County Court with felony theft by deception.
Smillie was arraigned April 23. Her preliminary hearing is at 2 p.m. May 16.
Hall County Court Judge Alfred Corey set bond at 10 percent of $10,000. Hall County Public Defender Jeff Loeffler is representing Smillie. Hall County Attorney Marty Klein is the prosecutor.
According to a court affidavit, on March 13, a board member and two employees came to the Grand Island Police Department. They wanted to report fraudulent activity on the center’s bank statements.
On March 12, the Child Advocacy Center received a bank statement. An employee observed a transaction for a flight to Aberdeen, Scotland. Smillie then took the bank statement into her office. When the employee got the bank statement back, “white out” had been used to block the transaction that showed the flight to Scotland.
A Child Advocacy Center employee looked through bank statements and found multiple fraudulent transactions that had been “whited out.”
Smillie used a credit card to allegedly attend a conference in New York City. Child Advocacy Center employees couldn’t find that the conference existed. There was a $639 charge for a plane ticket to New York City.
On March 20, a police investigator met with two board members and two employees. They went through bank statements and purchase orders from July 2023 to February 2025. There were 88 fraudulent purchases totaling $24,885. Subpoenas were issued for records from StubHub, American Airlines, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
In January 2025, Smillie bought two tickets to a theater performance in New York City costing $1,118. She paid approximately $3,030 on bills to the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She also allegedly paid for phone bills using the center’s funds.
According to the Child Advocacy Center’s website, the agency serves children who are victims of physical abuse, sexual assault, have witnessed violent crime, have been placed in a drug endangered environment or recovered from a kidnapping. The children are interviewed by a forensically-trained professional in a relaxed manner. Children and their parents are not charged for services that the Child Advocacy Center provides.
Smillie is not listed as a staff member on the Child Advocacy Center’s website. The center is located at 3535 W. 13th St., Suite 121.
