$3,000 in Rotary donations stolen

MAYSVILLE - More than $3,000 in donations raised by the Maysville Rotary Club was stolen this week from an area funeral home.

Wayne Sayland, owner and operator of Sayland Funeral Home, is chairing the event. He said he had received the proceeds from the group's reverse-draw fundraiser Tuesday morning and had planned to deposit the funds later that day.

"I don't normally have funds in my office. They're usually in my hip pocket or in the bank, but this is the one time of the year that I have happened to have these funds because I hadn't been able to get to the bank to deposit them," he said.

Sayland said he left the funeral home Tuesday sometime between 2 and 3 p.m. and was gone no more than 30 minutes. He returned to find his safe and office ransacked, he said.

"It's gonna take me some time to get over the fact that it happened to me. I guess that's the way anybody feels when they feel like they've been violated. I've looked over my shoulder more today than I've ever looked. It just makes you leery," Sayland said. "I know there is crime everywhere, I know Maysville is not exempt from anything, but you know what they say, when it hits home it's a different situation,"

Sayland said he feels responsible for the Rotary's loss because he was responsible for the money, he said.

"They didn't steal from me," he said. "If it was my funds it was one thing. Someone actually stole ... money that was going to be used for good."

The investigation is still in its early stages, and the police department has no suspects, said Carl Baugus, chief of police.

"We're just investigating right now; it's pretty much still open right now. It just happened (Tuesday) ," Baugus said. "We've done the crime scene and we're going from there."

Vic Bryan, president of the Maysville Rotary Club, is upset about the incident because of the way it could affect the community.

"I'm saddened for the loss. It was monies that were going to help the community in the form of scholarships and other programs, and we are very disappointed that someone would do that, that someone would commit an almost heinous act," he said.

The Rotary Club plans to hold its drawing on Saturday as planned, despite the loss, Bryan said.

"We can go on and we expect to have a better-than-ever fundraiser and we'll come out just fine," he said.

Sayland said he is keeping a positive attitude about the fundraiser as well.

"Good is gonna conquer evil," he said.

Contact Molly DeWitt at mdewitt@freedomenc.com or 910-219-8457.