The former head of a nonprofit group that raised money to restore popular trails in the White Mountains will plead guilty to federal embezzlement charges.
Melanie Luce, who led the Campton-based White Mountains Trail Collective from 2019 to 2021, is accused of stealing funds, as well as misleading the group’s board of directors about grant funding, earning her unwarranted performance bonuses.
Luce’s trial was scheduled to begin next week. On Wednesday, she entered into a plea agreement that, if approved, calls for her to serve a two-year prison sentence, and pay $193,724 in restitution.
Luce’s attorney said he was unable to comment.
According to the plea agreement, prosecutors say Luce opened a credit card in March 2021 without the approval of the nonprofit’s board of directors. She used that card to pay $28,000 to her own web design company, as well for personal car repairs. In total, authorities allege she misappropriated approximately $58,000 in payments.
“As WMTC’s financial situation worsened due in part to [Luce’s] embezzlements, [Luce] took various steps to conceal her conduct,” prosecutors allege in the plea deal.
In Oct. 2021, Luce misled her board of directors, claiming she had obtained a $475,000 grant from a foundation. Luce provided a copy of a forged agreement, which led to a $20,000 performance bonus. She later obtained a line of credit in the organization’s name to cover her debts, but ultimately defaulted on a $44,000 loan to that entity, as well.
Luce told authorities that individual board members “were aware of and in some instances encouraged her conduct,” but in the plea deal she acknowledged she obscured much of her financial activity.
Founded as a nonprofit in 2019, the White Mountains Trail Collective worked with partner agencies including the U.S. Forest Service and Appalachian Mountain Club, as well as smaller trail conservation organizations, to raise money to restore heavily used trails.
That included significant involvement in a now-completed two-year project to improve the Crawford Path on Mount Washington, a highly trafficked trail that crosses delicate alpine ecosystems.
The nonprofit helped to fill a yawning gap in deferred trail maintenance in the White Mountains, and provided individuals and foundations with a way to support trail work on federally managed properties.
In addition to the work on Crawford Path, records show the group also helped to coordinate trail maintenance projects at popular hiking destinations in New Hampshire including Glen Ellis Falls and Cathedral Ledge.
The U.S. Forest Service awarded the nonprofit $100,000 in 2021.
Luce is scheduled to appear in federal court on Dec. 8 for her sentencing.
In 2012, Luce pleaded guilty to four counts of felony theft and misuse of a credit card after stealing approximately $185,000 from a medical practice in Plymouth, where she worked as an office manager. Luce was sentenced to serve 12 months in the Grafton County House of Corrections, and ordered to pay restitution.
