Former director of Breckenridge Film Festival Dawna Foxx given 5 years for embezzling $300K

Dawna Foxx was sentenced to five years in prison for embezzling up to $300,000. (Photo: Summit County District Attorney's Office)  

Read More: Dawna Foxx

The former director of the Breckenridge Film Festival, who pleaded guilty to embezzling up to $300,000 from the non-profit, was sentenced to five years in prison Monday.

According to the District Attorney’s Office in Summit County, Dawna Foxx, 67, also stole thousands of dollars from her ex-husband and his former business partner.

According to court documents, Foxx stole the money through fraudulent checks, credit cards and by writing herself checks from business accounts while she was the executive director of the festival.

The money was spent at casinos in the area, rental vehicles, airline flights, clothing, gardening supplies and phone and utility bills, said DA spokeswoman Jill Sarmo.

Police were alerted to Foxx’s forgeries by her ex-husband, according to an arrest affidavit.

Foxx was arrested on Nov. 21 last year and pleaded guilty in June to charges of  theft of $1,000 to $20,000 and second-degree forgery.

She was ordered to pay $110,000 in restitution, $90,000 of which will go to the film festival.

Chief judge Mark Thompson told Foxx at the sentencing that her crime was “systemic, calculated, unprovoked and unjustified,” according to the Summit Daily News.

“More importantly it was perpetrated by a person who was placed in a position of trust by a charity that is important to the community and a charity that depends on the trust of the community,” Thompson said.

“Ms. Foxx got caught in the henhouse. Her sentence will not only protect other community coops, but sends a message to other would be crooks, that justice doesn’t tolerate taking advantage of charities, businesses and individuals which serve our community honestly,” said District Attorney Bruce Brown in a statement.

Foxx currently lives in Kansas. She was given a one-week stay to return home and put her affairs in order before reporting to prison.

The Breckenridge Film Festival is scheduled for Sept. 18-21.