$27,000 missing from school in Wyoming

FROM WYOMINGNEWS.COM -

An embezzlement investigation involving a missing $27,000 is under way at the Village Montessori School in downtown Cheyenne.

Members of the school's board of directors have set an open meeting to discuss the probe at 6 p.m. today at the school at 214 W. 22nd St.
Board President Christen Haller said debits to the school's operating fund were noticed after the termination of former director Teresa Meadowcroft.
"(Meadowcroft) has been there almost 10 years and director for six. So we had a lot of trust in her and were very surprised by this," Haller said.
The firing came in the wake of concerns from the board regarding the school's administration, Haller said.
"We'd had some general administration issues and decided to terminate on those," she said.
Meadowcroft was in charge of paying school bills and the bookkeeping, Board Treasurer Stefanie Illingworth said.
"She applied for the debit card; her signature is on the application for card," Illingworth added. "I don't think she could have been oblivious to all of it because she was doing the bank reconciliation."
The charges to the school's account primarily came from the debit card in Meadowcroft's name that Illingworth said never was approved.
"We appointed an interim director (Jamie Beatty) who is a current teacher," Illingworth said. "Upon her going through the books and the accounting software, (she) couldn't find any of the current year's bank statements, so (she) got in touch with the bank and got copies.
"Once we got those, we looked through the January statement and we realized we had a problem."
The statement included charges at area bars and lingerie stores and for airplane tickets and hotel charges, Illingworth said.
They appear to go back at least through 2008.
School officials said they informed police of the charges on Aug. 5.
The former assistant director of the school, Madori Presley, was removed from that position but is a teacher there, Illingworth said. Presley has denied knowledge of the charges, Illingworth added.
Meadowcroft declined to comment when contacted Thursday by the WTE.
The Cheyenne Police Department confirmed an investigation is ongoing but would not release documents tied to the investigation because it is not complete.
Meadowcroft is not listed by name in the filed report, Cheyenne Police spokesman Sgt. Rob Dafoe said.
He added that he is unable to confirm or deny whether she is involved in the investigation. But he said no charges have been brought against her.
The investigation could be lengthy because of the auditing process and the time period involved, Dafoe said.