Sarasota Little League treasurer sentenced to 1 year in $175K theft case

The woman who plead no contest to stealing more than $200,000 last year from Sarasota Little League was sentenced Monday to a year in Sarasota County Jail. She was also ordered to begin paying $176,000 in restitution upon her release.

In court documents, 35-year-old Ahnaysa Kristina Turner was ordered to make a lump-sum payment of $88,006 and begin making $1,000 monthly payments 30 days after her release. She was also sentenced to 25 years of probation.

Further, she is barred from working for any nonprofit and as a financial advisor, treasurer or “other money person,’’ court documents show.

Turner, as the league’s treasurer, was charged in 2025 with one count each of grand theft and scheming to defraud, to which she plead no contest earlier this year. A trial date had been scheduled for August.

Sarasota Little League reported a disappearance of more than $200,000 from its treasury last October. It was left with around $950 in its checking account and, without outside financial assistance, would’ve been unable to hold the remainder of the fall 2025 season.

Turner, who had served as the league’s treasurer since 2022, was arrested the following month on one count of grand larceny in excess of $100,000. There were more than 160 offseason ATM withdrawals totaling more than $159,000 made from November 2022 to September 2025, according to the arrest affidavit. There was also $14,527.15 of unauthorized Amazon purchases on a league credit card and 120 in-season ATM cash transactions totaling $95,670, of which $63,780 was paid to umpires.

Among the safeguards now in place, the league has stopped all cash handlings and gone fully electronic so complete records can be kept moving forward. There are also multiple people on their bank accounts so numbers can be double- or triple-checked at any time.

All board members and coaches are required to complete background checks on JDP, as dictated by Little League. Sarasota Little League has added a second mandatory, multi-state background check run by a private detective. 

This article originally appeared on sister site YourObserver.com.