PITTSBURGH — A New Jersey woman is suing the Paul Laurence Dunbar Community Center for $250,000, accusing the center, some employees and its board of breach of contract, gross negligence, conspiracy and fraud.

Jean Coulter filed the suit Feb. 1 in federal court in Pittsburgh, and is seeking repayment of a loan with interest as well as punitive damages.

In July 2013, Coulter offered an interest-free loan of $50,000 to the center. According to the suit, she had been led to believe the center was having financial difficulties due to delayed payment of a federal grant it received.

After the center’s board approved the loan, Coulter signed an agreement with executive director Kate Donnelly.

Payments to Coulter were to be $1,000 per month with the first payment due Jan. 31, 2014.

By early February 2014, Coulter found out the center defaulted on the loan. On the last day of February, Coulter found out that Donnelly no longer worked at the center.

Speaking with new executive director Heather Dovenspike, the lawsuit said Coulter found that the center would not make any payments until at least March 2014, the lawsuit said.

However, in December 2013, Donnelly had told Coulter the first payment would be made on time. But the suit said this could not have been true, alleging that Coulter later discovered the center’s bank account balance was nearly empty as of Dec. 31, 2013.

In July 2015, the lawsuit said Coulter received an e-mail from Bill Halle, a center board member who also is the CEO of the Grace Youth and Family Foundation, where the center moved its facilities to in November 2014. The e-mail said a check for the loan had been sent to Coulter, and allegedly said there was no intention to repay any other money to Coulter. The lawsuit also alleges that Dunbar funds were co-mingled with funds from Halle’s foundation.

Halle said he was asked to join the board when Butler County Human Services and the United Way of Butler County pulled funding from the center. Part of his job was to review the center’s finances and settle its debt, including Coulter’s loan.

He said he sent Coulter a $50,000 check twice on behalf of the center to settle her loan.

“Unfortunately, Ms. Coulter refused to accept the $50,000 check sent to her claiming she is owed interest,” Halle said in an e-mail.

He said he could not comment further, saying he has not received a copy of the suit.

Coulter’s suit alleges that center employees and board members have been “illegally secretive” about the center’s finances and board information. She said she had to get that information through the Internet even though she said that information “is known to be false.”

She further claimed the board’s executive committee kept information from other board members.

She alleged that people affiliated with Dunbar showed a lack of concern at “wasteful spending, which began to significantly increase upon receipt of the loan.”

The suit claimed Dovenspike “went on a spending spree” when Donnelly was out of town, and then “began spending money as though Dunbar were swimming in it” when she was named executive director.

Dovenspike declined to comment on the lawsuit. Donnelly also declined to comment.

Coulter, who is representing herself, declined to comment on her lawsuit.