School PTO treasurer charged in $20K theft in Mississippi

A school bookkeeper who also volunteered as treasurer for the parent-teacher organization at Magnolia Park Elementary has been arrested on an embezzlement charge involving $20,000 in PTO money, police said.




Holly Harrison Fitts, 28, left her job at Magnolia Park on Monday and was arrested Tuesday, police Lt. John Flowers said.



PTO members reported money missing Monday afternoon, Flowers said, and pointed detectives to questionable bookkeeping practices.







Investigators determined the money went missing in phases over a six-month period that started in August.




“The victims ultimately are the school children,” Flowers said. “This was money from PTO fundraisers, like the Santa Workshop and Popcorn Friday sales, money intended to benefit the children at the school.”



The school is on Government Street.



Investigators questioned Fitts at her home in the 14100 block of Big Ridge Road in Biloxi, Flowers said, and booked her at the Ocean Springs city jail.



Municipal Court Judge Matthew Mestayer set bond at $10,000.



Police said they have recovered much of the money.



“She led us to it,” Flowers said. “It was not in a bank. It was stored loosely.”



School District Superintendent Robert Hirsch said no school district money is missing.



Although Fitts worked for the school, he said, she was a PTO volunteer because she has a child who attends the school.



“The school district does not handle PTO money,” Hirsch said. “We have so many checks and balances in the school district that it’s fairly difficult to do something like this with school money.”



“Obviously, the people who volunteer with PTO certainly don’t expect one of their fellow officers to do something like this,” Hirsch said, calling the incident “extremely unfortunate.”



“We are saddened by the fact that this also was a school employee and a parent,” he said. “It is rather embarrassing for us.”