Affidavit: Carroll coach said he was threatened by investor

A local high school basketball coach accused of stealing more than $26,000 told his business partner he used the money to pay off an investor from a project unrelated to their company, according to a police affidavit released Thursday by Sedgwick County District Court.

The business partner, Wave Array Science president Robert Steinmetz, told a Wichita police detective that Gary Cundiff refused to name the investor when asked, and said only that he was “a good guy just as long as you don’t cross him,” the affidavit said.

Steinmetz told the detective when he pressed Cundiff about the investor’s identity, Cundiff – the CEO of Wave Array Science and the boys basketball coach at Bishop Carroll – replied: “He’s a bookie. Put it that way,” according to the affidavit.

Steinmetz filed an embezzlement report with the Wichita Police Department on March 28, alleging Cundiff spent $26,787.76 on purchases unrelated to Wave Array Science without approval between January and March. The business is registered under Cundiff’s home address.

Cundiff is charged with felony theft and falsifying company financial statements to hide the missing money. An attorney for him could not be reached Thursday for comment.

Cundiff in a previous interview with The Eagle denied wrongdoing and called the matter “an internal business argument” that “went bad.” He is due in court Oct. 13 for a preliminary hearing in the case.

Steinmetz told the detective he learned money was missing from Wave Array Science’s corporate bank account after a product inventor complained that Cundiff hadn’t paid the $25,000 promised to him for product development, according to the affidavit.

Steinmetz told the detective when he confronted Cundiff, Cundiff wrote an e-mail admitting he had invested money in a project unrelated to Wave Array Science in 2015. When the project ran into trouble, Cundiff said he “borrowed $26,000 from the Wave Array account to pay this investor” after he was threatened, the affidavit said.

This story was originally published September 29, 2016 at 12:43 PM with the headline "Affidavit: Carroll coach said he was threatened by investor."