Mustangs reports filed
State may still seek board ouster
MILFORD — Three years of annual reports for the Milford Mustangs youth football organization were filed last week, after the Attorney General’s Office went to court seeking the ouster of the entire board.
Thomas Donovan, with the Charitable Trust Unit of the Attorney General’s Office, said Friday that he filed a proposed final decree with the Merrimack Superior Court on June 27. That decree, if approved by a judge, would remove Mustangs President Chris McNeil, as well as board member Stacy Webb, Kaylee Parkhurst, Terry McNeil, Eric Chamberlin, Danielle DeBernardo, Roger Coombs, Paula Salemi, Steven Crandlemere, Andrew Talierico, and Charita Ughu.
McNeil and the others would be barred from serving on nonprofit boards, and McNeill would be fined $10,000. All of them have been found in default by the court after they failed to respond to the complaint Donovan filed earlier this year.
Donovan said that two days after the proposed final decree was filed in court, McNeil turned in the missing annual reports from 2013, 2014, and 2015. Those reports detail the organization’s handling of funds, and Donovan said that is now under review. He said his office may still pursue the sanctions against McNeil and the others.
“We are still considering our options,” Donovan said.
McNeil did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. McNeil told the Telegraph on June 16 that the reports had been filed with the state, even though they had not. He told a reporter with the Milford Cabinet a few days later that reports were done, but not yet sent out.
McNeil reportedly made several promises to the state throughout 2016 and into 2017 to have the reports sent in, before he finally stopped contacting the Charitable Trust Unit.
Gail Gagnon, the only Mustangs board member not in default of the court complaint, said last week that she directly asked McNeil earlier this year if the reports had been done.
“I asked in March is everything had been filed, and Chris said everything was filed and everything was all set,” Gagnon said. “Two weeks later we all had the sherrif’s at our door (serving the complaint.)”
Gagnon is the only member served with the state’s summons to contact the CTU and file a response.
“I’m not dumb,” she said.
Gagnon has been with the Mustangs organization since 2006, and was with the organization when it went through a similar issue. The board went through two years of training and supervision by the CTU between 2010 and 2012, getting it’s paperwork and finances in order to be able to operate in New Hampshire as a non-profit. Then, once that work was done, new board members, including McNeill stepped in.
“I don’t want the CTU to shut down the organization,” Gagnon said. “I do feel seriously bad for Chris.”
Kirk Palladion, the president of Mustangs who steered through group through the 2010 to 2012 CTU review, said this latest issue is harming the organization.
“I’m deeply saddened for the state of the organization, and the kids of this great community,” Palladino said. “When you lose the trust and lose integrity like this president clearly has only the kids lose.”


