Keely Thompson, a former professional boxer who had established an anti-gang and anti-drug youth boxing center in Columbia Heights, was arrested on Thursday and charged with stealing more than half a million dollars from the center’s coffers. Thompson, the executive director of Keely’s District Boxing and Youth Center which, at one point, was located at 1459 Columbia Road NW, had accepted more than $1.4 million in District funds since 2004 on behalf of the center. In addition to taking an increasing salary each year, Thompson is alleged to have used hundreds of thousands of those dollars to go on gambling trips to Atlantic City and other non-business purposes.

In an affidavit, Thompson admitted that he “used the money in the wrong way.”

Of course, if the story itself wasn’t depressing enough, this video piece about the center — which talks about the struggles the center faced with remaining open, while facing shortages of supplies and a staff which had dwindled from 13 employees to but three volunteers — just brings it to another level.