Former Sparta Chamber CEO charged with forgery

In a criminal complaint recently filed with the Monroe County Circuit Court, former Sparta Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser has been investigated for alleged forgery. In September of 2024, an individual named in the complaint as "TCZ," who the Herald has identified as Trent Ziegler, contacted Sparta Police to report he believed Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser had forged his signature on a check from the Sparta Chamber. Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser had written for $3,300 to the individual who created the Water Street bridge mural. Sparta Chamber rules require that any check written for the Chamber be signed by two of three people: the Executive Director (Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser), the Chamber treasurer, and/or the Chamber president. Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser had signed the check in question herself. According to the complaint, the second signature was difficult to make out; Trent Ziegler believes someone had attempted to duplicate his signature. Additionally, the back of the check was signed "Pay to the order of," with Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser's signature below it.

According to the complaint, when the investigating officer contacted Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser, she admitted to forging Trent Ziegler's signature. She explained that she had done so because Trent Ziegler was out of town, and she needed to pay the mural's creator. When the investigating officer spoke with Trent Ziegler, he checked a personal calendar and reported he would have been available to sign the check on the date written on the check as well as the two weeks before that date.

When asked if she forged names on other checks, Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser reportedly told the investigating officer "no" before telling the officer "she doesn't have a very good memory" and then told the officer she may have forged a check used to pay a band.

Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser told the investigating officer that besides a check for her bonus and to pay for a firearm the Chamber bought from her, she had never written a check to get money for herself. Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser denied embezzling money; she told the officer she only forged the signature to make payment while the board treasurer and president were absent. When asked by the investigating officer, the Chamber treasurer and president said they had not given Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser permission to sign their name if they were unavailable. According to the complaint, the officer does not believe Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser used the checks in question to gain money for herself.

The investigating officer contacted the individual hired to paint the mural; they are identified as "BMP" in the criminal complaint. BMP told the officer they had submitted a file to Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser listing 33 work hours at $100 an hour. BMP told the officer they encountered issues getting payment from Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser. Allegedly, Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser told BMP that checks were only made on Tuesdays and they would need to wait a week to get paid. BMP told the officer that two weeks had passed before they spoke to Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser again. In the second conversation, Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser told BMP a software issue would require them to wait longer for a check. BMP told the officer they felt they had to chase Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser down to get paid.

According to the complaint, the Chamber's bank told Trent Ziegler the Chamber had bounced several checks while Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser was employed as Executive Director. The officer also reports Trent Ziegler alleges that while employed as Chamber Executive Director, Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser had not submitted a purchase receipt for over nine months. Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser told the officer the receipts were in a binder in a drawer and that she had given other receipts to a firm handling the financial matters for the Chamber. When questioned, the firm replied, "They had not received any receipt from Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser for quite some time."

Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser is scheduled to appear in Monroe County court before Judge Mark Goodman on June 9, 2025. She is charged with one count of Forgery-Uttering as a felony. Uttering a forgery is a Class H felony, which could result in a punishment of up to 6 years in prison, $10,000.00 in fines, or both.  Heidi Prestwood-Funkhouser is presumed innocent until proven guilty.