Without hope, and without a home, Houston’s street kids often turn to StandUp For Kids for help. The charity provides food, clothing and counseling in 37 U.S. cities.

But the charity also has big problems.

“I’m ashamed,” said Rick Koca, founder and CEO of StandUp For Kids. “We got hit, and hit hard.”

Koca is talking about how Houston volunteer Sharon Cooper, may have knocked the non-profit to its knees, by supposedly siphoning off money.

“A lot of money,” Koca said, holding back tears.

Harris County court records allege Cooper took donation checks to the charity, deposited them in a personal account, and went on a spending spree. A search warrant outlined how she allegedly bought two news cars with the money, along with a jet ski, bedroom suite, and even a new pair of breasts.

That’s right, court documents accuse Cooper of using charity donations to pay for breast augmentation surgery. And not only for herself, but her daughter too.

“She stole in excess of $200,000,” said Renee McGee, a Harris County Assistant District Attorney assigned to the Major Fraud Division.

“Having fun with the money — living off of it and having fun with the money,” McGee added.

It would be fun at the expense of those in need, and experts say charities can be fertile ground for theft and fraud because too often, there are too few checks and balances.

Add to that what one charity watchdog calls “the philosophy of entitlement.”

It’s how the Better Business Bureau’s Dan Parsons describes how helping the needy can turn volunteers into the greedy.

“It’s like, I’ve given, given, given, I’ve helped, now it’s time to get my cut,” Parsons said.

And the thievery can cut across every type of charity.

•At the Grayson Community Center in West Houston, volunteer Sylvia Medina stands accused of pocketing proceeds from a golf tournament to benefit youth and elderly programs.

•At Catholic Charities of Central Texas, a former program director is charged with stealing $60,000.

•And the senior services non-profit Sheltering Arms was swindled out of $280,000 by its vice president.

“It should never happen, and every non-profit out there should have ways to prevent it,” Parsons said.

He said that should include doing routine audits and having financial committees instead of just one person in charge of the books.

“The checks and balances can never steer you wrong because the likelihood of two or three conspirators is very remote,” Parsons said.

But Stand Up For Kids claims it did its homework on Cooper.

“We do background checks on everybody, we did a background check on this woman,” Koca said.

But apparently, it wasn’t thorough enough. 11 News Investigates learned Cooper received two felony theft convictions while working as a bookkeeper in the early 1990s. She was even sentenced to 18 years in prison in 1994, but only served three years.

In fact, when she joined Stand Up For Kids, Cooper was still on parole. A Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson said her parole was set to expire in 2012.

But now, she faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted on the first degree felony theft charge.

“It’s my responsibility; I can’t look to someone else,” Koca said.

And now, the cash-strapped charity can only hope donations don’t dry up — for the street kids’ sake.

“For the good work that we have done, we shouldn’t be judged by this,” Koca said.