Ex-Laramie Mayor Andi Summerville Accused of Embezzling $31K from Wyoming Mental Health Group, Says she’s Innocent

The original story by Joshua Wolfson for WyoFile.

The former head of a Wyoming mental health advocacy group — and a onetime Laramie mayor — is facing felony charges over what investigators say was more than $31,000 in stolen funds. She denies any wrongdoing.

Albany County prosecutors on Tuesday charged Andi Summerville with seven counts of felony theft and one count of forgery, according to court documents filed in Laramie. A judge issued a warrant the same day, and Summerville was later booked into jail and released, her attorney said.

Summerville is the former executive director of the Wyoming Association of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers, where she was a prominent public voice on mental health policy, frequently testifying before lawmakers and speaking to the media. The organization placed her on administrative leave this fall and later fired her, an affidavit states.

She also previously served as Laramie’s mayor and sat on the Laramie City Council.

The case began in October, when the association’s board president contacted Laramie police with concerns that Summerville may have misused the group’s money.

According to an affidavit signed by Laramie Police Sgt. Jacob Bury, investigators found a string of questionable debit card charges and checks tied to the nonprofit’s bank account.

Police say Summerville was the group’s only paid employee, working mostly from home. After a board leadership change in July 2024, she gained full electronic access to the association’s bank account and became the sole holder of its debit card. From then on, she was allegedly the only person with active access to the group’s finances.

By September, board members had flagged seven debit card purchases totaling nearly $2,870 that didn’t look like organizational expenses. Police say those included:

• $419 at a Target in November 2024;
• $573 at three stores in the Mall of America in February 2025;
• $469 at the Omaha Zoo in May 2025;
• $875 at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Broomfield, Colorado, over two trips in April and June 2025.

According to the affidavit, Summerville acknowledged those charges to the board president and said she’d accidentally used the organization’s card on personal trips, then paid the money back. But when police reviewed the group’s bank records, they say they couldn’t find any deposits or transfers that matched alleged reimbursements.

Investigators also found six checks, written between August 2024 and September 2025, made out to Summerville from the organization’s account. The checks totaled $28,500 and all listed “expenses” in the memo line.

Bury wrote that there were no receipts, invoices or other records to justify those payments and that the amounts didn’t line up with past spending.

“Summerville’s self-issued checks exceeded the organization’s entire annual travel budget by more than $11,000 and far surpassed every other discretionary category,” he wrote.

Budgets recovered during a search of her home showed no history of reimbursements that large, he added, calling the checks inconsistent with the group’s planned or authorized spending.

The board formally asked Summerville on Oct. 3 and Oct. 6 to turn over all receipts for spending between July 2024 and October 2025, according to the affidavit. Police say she didn’t provide the requested documents.

Summerville’s attorney, Tom Fleener, said she plans to fight the allegations.

“Ms. Summerville maintains that she is innocent of these charges and is looking forward to her day in court,” Fleener said in a text message to WyoFile. “All of these charges largely stem from issues with her expense reimbursements of which there was nothing improper.”

The Wyoming Association of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers’ board president, who initially contacted police, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Summerville has not yet entered a plea in the case.