EL CAJON, Calif. -- El Cajon police started an investigation into embezzlement allegations involving the El Cajon Youth Football & Cheer organization, it was reported Wednesday.

Detective Mark Lee met with a representative of the nonprofit group Monday and said he requested more information involving the organization's finances, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Lee told the newspaper the situation is a "real mess" but declined to be more specific.

Last month, a letter to parents form the organization's board of directors stated that it was investigating a "significant amount" of financial mismanagement by former board members, but did not give details.

"I think unfortunately what happened was there was serious misappropriation," Annie Gutierrez, a team mom in the organization, told the newspaper.

Recent registration fees ranged from $130 to $250 for football players and $175 to $275 for cheerleaders. Additional revenue came from fundraisers. But while money was coming in, Gutierrez said, suspicions arose about where it was going, especially when old equipment was being reused, the Union-Tribune reported.

Gutierrez told the newspaper she spent about $1,500 of her own money for a team party and then was told there was no money to pay her back. The organization ended up giving her enough to make monthly payments on her credit card from November to April.

The organization reportedly took in $60,693 in fiscal 2004, according to its most recently available tax form. After expenses, it had a net fund balance that year of $31,774, the Union-Tribune reported.