When nonprofit organizations in California select treasurers, they entrust large amounts of money to those officers. A woman from Carmichael allegedly betrayed the trust placed in her by the Deterding Elementary School’s Parent Teacher Organization, Carmichael Little League and an Orangevale baseball team. Authorities continue to hold her in Sacramento County Jail after her arrest following accusations of embezzlement. The court set her bail at $125,000.
The court system has pressed multiple charges against her after alleging that she embezzled over $138,000 from multiple organizations since 2015. Her charges include embezzlement, forgery, grand theft and illegally using personal identification.
According to court filings, the PTO at Deterding Elementary elected her treasurer in June 2015. After serving for over two years in that position, she allegedly wrote a large check from the PTO to the Carmichael Little League that also relied on her as treasurer. At this point, the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department launched an investigation that found evidence of the woman taking over $80,000 from the PTO account for herself and over $50,000 from the little league account. During a fundraiser for another baseball team, she allegedly produced a fraudulent invoice to take $405 from that organization. She also stands accused of forging other records to conceal her activities.
Strong penalties could result from convictions on embezzlement charges. A person accused of misappropriating funds, creating false vendor accounts or other financial crimes might want the insights of a criminal defense attorney. An attorney may strive to limit charges by looking for weak evidence that does not clearly show the person’s association with illegal activities. The efforts of an attorney might lead to a plea deal with a light sentence.
Source: KCRA, “Carmichael woman accused of embezzling over $138,000 from youth programs“, Hope Miller, Oct. 30, 2018