Carroll basketball coach Gary Cundiff charged with felony theft

Bishop Carroll boys basketball coach Gary Cundiff appeared in Sedgwick County District Court on Aug. 12 on charges of felony theft and making false information.

Court documents show Cundiff is accused of taking more than $26,000 from Wave Array Science, a company registered under Cundiff’s home address. His next court appearance is Sept. 15.

Carroll athletic director Larry Dostert said Wednesday morning that Cundiff remained the boys basketball coach. Cundiff later said he had not informed Carroll’s administration about his court appearance until after Dostert was contacted by The Eagle.

In a statement to The Eagle, Carroll president Tish Nielsen wrote, “We are in the process of gathering facts about charges made against our newly hired head (boys) basketball coach. These charges involve matters conducted outside of his employment with Bishop Carroll Catholic High School and do not involve students in any way. We will fully cooperate with any forthcoming investigation. I am not able to provide any additional information or comment as this is a personnel matter.”

Cundiff, who was hired in April after serving the past four seasons as an assistant on Carroll’s girls team, said the charges stem from a fallout in a business partnership with New Jersey businessman Robert Steinmetz.

“I didn’t do what they said I did,” Cundiff told The Eagle. “It’s an internal business argument and it went bad and my partner and I made up for it.

“This is going to be done and over with in two weeks. It’s not what it appears to be.”

Steinmetz would not comment.

Cundiff, who played basketball at Wichita State from 1982-87, said he’s no longer associated with Wave Array Science. He said it was created in August 2015 with ambitions of developing a new type of smart cloth for shirts that could detect problems inside the body, such as heart anomalies.

Problems arose in January, Cundiff said, when Steinmetz questioned Cundiff over what he thought was missing money in the company’s account. Cundiff denied taking money.

Cundiff filed for bankruptcy in August 2015, listing more than $100,000 of unsecured debt, which is primarily credit-card debt and loans.

This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Carroll basketball coach Gary Cundiff charged with felony theft."