Brooklawn councilman accused of stealing $6K from youth basketball league

⚠️ Councilman accused of stealing from local youth sports league

➡️ Bruce Darrow charged with third-degree theft after a decade of embezzlement

🔴 Ongoing trend of theft cases linked to New Jersey youth sports groups

An elected councilman in Camden County is accused of stealing from a youth sports league he was in charge of.

On Tuesday, Bruce Darrow was charged by Gloucester City Police with third-degree theft.

Allegations of long-term embezzlement

Investigators say Darrow stole more than $6,000 from the Carmen Palmiero Basketball League over a decade, through this past March, while he served as the league’s president.

He has been the boys’ basketball travel coach for the last 26 years.

Darrow's political background and community ties

Darrow, a Democrat, has been serving his first term on the Brooklawn Borough Council since 2024.

He was previously involved in both the local planning/zoning board and Brooklawn’s Board of Education, of which he was president for 15 years.

Darrow has lived most of his life in Brooklawn — he and his wife raised five children in the community.

Broader context of theft from youth sports in New Jersey

There have been a number of other New Jersey cases involving adults accused of stealing from youth sports groups.

In 2023, a couple who served as president and field director of the Old Bridge Soccer League were charged with stealing over $91,000 from the league, accused of using some of those funds to take a trip to Disney World.

Charges against the husband were dismissed while the wife was convicted of second-degree theft and ordered to payback roughly $88,000 to the league in 2024, MyCentralJersey reported.

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