Former Minot Swim Club Treasurer Melody Sundbakken Added to USA Swimming Banned for Life List

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, June 5. IN a reminder that USA Swimming's Banned for Life list is not just for sexual abusers, former Minot Swim Club treasurer Melody Sundbakken was the most recent person to be added to the list by the national federation.

Sundbakken was arrested on charges of embezzling more than $10,000 from Minot Swim Club from mid-2007 through the Fall of 2011. The complaint by Special Agent Steve Gutknecht of the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation allege that “the defendant wrote numerous unauthorized checks to herself on the Minot Swim Club account and took cash from deposits and fundraisers for herself without authority to do so,” according to the Minot Daily News.

Sunbakken's criminal case in North Dakota, originally set to begin with an initial appearance in Sept of 2011, has been pushed back to this July before a potential resolution. USA Swimming's National Board of Review, however, had enough to go forward with the ban as felony charges are a violation of the code of conduct.

Sundbakken's ban date was April 30. Members of the banned list are afforded a 30-day appeal period before being added to the public version of the banned list.

USA Swimming has now added five people to its Banned for Life list this year. A William Hudson out of Delaware was added on Feb. 21, while Bryan Woodward of Florida was added on March 7. David Teel (April 10) and Sean Mendoza (April 16) were also added recently.

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