Small-town Maine buisnessman allegedly stole $4M from charity CAMDEN, Maine, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- A small-town businessman in Maine is under investigation for allegedly embezzling almost $4 million from a charity he headed. Russell "Rusty" Brace, 81, has not yet been charged. But a judge in October, ruling that United Mid-Coast Charities could probably show that Brace stole $3.8 million, granted a motion to place an attachment on his property. Brace, owner of KAX Office Center in Camden, Maine, served as the UMC volunteer president from 1997 until his recent retirement. The charity now charges that he began embezzling money in 2001 and continued to do so until this year. The scandal has rocked Camden, a resort town on the Maine coast with fewer than 5,000 residents in the winter and triple that in the summer. As news of the charges became public, homemade signs showed up that read simply "$3.8 million!" "You can leave your keys in your car here," Leonard Lookner, a member of the board of selectmen, told the Boston Globe. Well, we left the keys in the car. And Rusty drove off with it. Stephen Crane, the board's new president, said that Brace admitted the thefts in September, a month after his retirement. Crane said he learned that one donor had given the charity substantial sums that did not show up in its records. Crane and Tammy Swasey-Ballou, who bought KAX from Brace earlier this year, told the Bangor Daily News they have been interviewed by FBI agents. Swasey--Ballou said Brace's alleged embezzlement has forced her to shut down the business, and she has filed a lawsuit. Brace allegedly deposited some donations to the charity in his own bank account, leaving no record on its books.