'It's Insane': Pryor Couple Charged With Embezzling From Their Nonprofit Claim Innocence

A Pryor couple is charged with six counts of embezzlement after misusing funds for their nonprofit, according to the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office.

The husband told News On 6 they are not guilty and they hope to get their names cleared.

An affidavit said the couple took $600,000 in donations from a Tulsa business and used that money to buy things like cars, and memorabilia and even pay their rent.

The husband said he and his wife did not misuse the money and put the purchases back into their business.

Jordan and Vanessa Parker are out of jail after turning themselves in on six embezzlement charges related to the Reckless Saints of Nowhere, a drug recovery program they started in 2017.

An affidavit says a Tulsa business made two donations totaling $600-thousand dollars to the non-profit to help with a program that would employ recovering addicts with the business.

The affidavit says the donation was put into the nonprofit account that was used by the Parkers to pay for a motorcycle, a car, toys, clothing, sunglasses, online fitness routines, sports memorabilia, a personal timeshare and even the rent to the couple's home.

The affidavit says many of these purchases happened without the board's approval, but Jordan says otherwise.

"Every month we had a board meeting where all of the expenses were laid out on a piece of paper and the board members signed off on it. So to say that they didn’t have any kind of understanding of what was going on is ludicrous, it’s insane," said Jordan, the founder and former CEO.

Jordan said he and his wife did not take a salary and were instead allowed to use the organization's account to pay for things.

"The board got together and said, look, don’t let your family starve to death, we’re going to pay your bills at least, and I said OK. But again, the firm watching the money, the board made those decisions, that has absolutely nothing to do with me," Jordan said.

The affidavit said eight months after the donations, the nonprofit had little to no assets to show for it.

The Parkers are looking forward to the chance to clear things up.

The Reckless Saints of Nowhere said the Parker's were removed from the organization when they learned of this investigation last year.

The chairman said the organization is doing great but cannot comment any further.