Tiffany Knupp, the founder of a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising money in her deceased son’s name, will be placed on probation after entering an Alford plea this week to one of nine charges in an embezzlement case.
Worcester County District Court
File photo
By Bethany Hooper, Associate Editor
Tiffany Knupp, the founder of a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising charitable funds in her son’s name, will be placed on probation after entering an Alford plea this week to one of nine charges filed against her in an embezzlement case.
In Worcester County District Court Tuesday, Knupp, 43, entered an Alford plea to theft $1,000 to under $25,000, one of nine charges filed against her following an embezzlement investigation involving the Gavin Knupp Foundation, a nonprofit she helped start following her son’s death. As a condition of her year-long probation, Knupp will pay $6,500 in restitution and will separate herself from the nonprofit, which will be dissolved.
“The foundation has done tremendous work. It helped a lot of people,” Knupp’s attorney, Thomas Maronick Jr., said following Tuesday’s court proceeding. “And if there’s some good that’s a part of this, everything that the foundation has done to help people, those funds will be donated to other charities of the board’s choosing. So this is a situation where good will continue to be done.”
In an Alford plea, the defendant maintains their innocence but acknowledges that the prosecution has enough evidence to convict them should their case proceed to trial. In court this week, Maronick said his client had made a mistake and was willing to enter an Alford plea to theft, with the remaining charges to be indefinitely postponed.
“The reason she is here today is she wasn’t diligent enough in writing checks out,” he told the judge.
Last December, during a divorce proceeding in Wicomico County, it was revealed that Knupp had used the foundation’s funds to pay her personal attorney, according to charging documents filed this summer. An investigation into the foundation’s bank account showed two payments – one for $2,500 and another for $4,000 – were made to her attorney’s law firm.
The investigation also revealed other questionable payments, one involving the foundation’s charitable contribution to a local family, and another involving proceeds from shirt sales. As a result, nine charges – including felonies of embezzlement, theft $1,500 to under $25,000, and theft scheme $1,500 to under $25,000 – were filed against Knupp.
“Between January 1, 2023, and December 29, 2023, Tiffany embezzled a total of $12,625 by exploiting her position as the president of the Gavin Knupp Foundation,” the charging documents read.
As the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case against Tyler Mailloux, the person accused of killing Knupp’s son in a hit-and-run incident, her case has been handled by the Somerset County State’s Attorney’s Office. During Tuesday’s court proceeding, special prosecutor Wessman Garner said none of the money used to pay Knupp’s divorce attorney had been approved by the foundation’s board.
“At no point did any of the board members give Ms. Knupp permission to use those funds …,” he said.
As a result of Knupp’s Alford plea, Judge Daniel Mumford placed Knupp on unsupervised probation for one year and ordered that she be removed from the foundation and its bank account. Mumford also ordered that she pay the agreed-upon restitution of $6,500 and dissolve the Gavin Knupp Foundation, with all remaining funds to be distributed to local charities.
“I think the Alford plea was appropriate in this case,” Mumford said.
Maronick said Tuesday he was pleased by the outcome in his client’s case. He said for the most part, Knupp had already complied with most of the conditions outlined by the judge.
“Obviously, we would have loved to have had a not guilty acquittal of all charges, have the state dismiss the charges. That wasn’t in the cards,” he said. “But this offer was too much to turn down. As Judge Mumford said today, he believed the Alford plea was appropriate. We believe the same as well.”
While Knupp’s case has concluded, the case against Mailloux continues to move forward in Worcester County Circuit Court. A motions hearing is set for Nov. 21, and a 13-day trial has been scheduled for next March.