School lunch money stolen, police say

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This article was published 16/04/2015 (3308 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A woman has been arrested for allegedly stealing about $24,000 from the Joseph Teres School lunch program fund in the River East Transcona School Division.

Winnipeg police say the 39-year-old woman was the treasurer of the fund.

RETSD superintendent Kelly Barkman said in an interview that parent volunteers became suspicious in October and alerted the division, who advised them to go to the police.

“It does show the program has checks and balances,” said Barkman, who has not met the woman who is charged and could not say when she was removed from her position.

He said that it usually takes two people to sign off on parent accounts, but he did not know the details of what is alleged to have happened at Joseph Teres, a kindergarten to Grade 5 school in Transcona with 316 students.

There are 27 schools in the division with lunch programs. Their major cost is paying supervisors.

Police said the parent group began an internal investigation when the monthly balances weren’t adding up. Last October, the WPS’s commercial crimes unit began a fraud investigation

Police allege the treasurer was withdrawing money for her own use between December 2013 and October 2014.

She was arrested on Thursday and faces charges of fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000.

The woman, who was not named, was released on a promise to appear in court.