Minnesota man accused of charging $220K to family suicide prevention nonprofit
An accused fraudster stole nearly $220,000 from the Minnesota suicide prevention nonprofit he and his in-laws ran since it was founded — just months after his late brother-in-law killed himself.
Ryan Gary Obermoller, 46, is accused of defrauding the non-profit organization for seven years, when he served as executive director and treasurer of Dylan’s Hope Foundation, a suicide prevention organization founded in 2013 by his in-laws after the tragic death of his brother-in-law.
Dylan Aaseby, 17, died by suicide on Feb. 7, 2013, according to his biography. At that time he was a junior in school.
Administrators flagged erroneously reported benefits from the charity’s 2024 annual golf tournament, which led Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office authorities to reach out to Obermoller, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Obermoller said the tournament raised $51,500, or the nonprofit’s reported earnings for the entire fiscal year was just $56,700, according to ProPublica.
While reviewing the organization’s bank account, administrators discovered that Obermoller had written a $22,000 check to himself. And when pressed, he allegedly admitted to more thefts, including one of more than $40,000, the complaint said.
In all, investigators estimated he embezzled at least $219,173 — and had returned only $30,000.
Obermoller is married to Dylan’s Aaseby’s older sister, Jenny, and has helped her grieving family run the nonprofit for more than a decade. He was trusted to handle the finances, as he had extensive accounting experience, Jenny told the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Between 2013 and 2024 — with unreported income between 2015 and 2018 — the nonprofit earned about $258,100 and spent about $240,030, ProPublica reported.
Jenny took over her estranged husband’s job when the allegations surfaced, according to the nonprofit’s leadership website.
Britt Aaseby, Obermoller’s father-in-law, said their mission to create “open channels of communication between young people and adults” to prevent tragedies like his son’s is in jeopardy because their treasurer is “putting themselves before the children.”
“He was devastated and tried to make his game,” said Britt Aaseby.
“[Accounting] that’s what he did for a living. How can you guess that?”
The family still does not know what Obermoller did with the stolen money, they told the outlet.
“From what he told me, he wanted to give us the life he wanted us to have, he never said what he did with it otherwise,” said Jenny.
Obermoller was charged with two counts of theft on February 17. He will appear in court again on April 8.
