An employee in the accounting department at Lusher Charter School embezzled
$25,000 last school year by forging five checks she wrote to herself from the
school’s bank account, according to an audit report obtained by The Lens.
The audit report doesn’t identify the “high ranking employee in the Business Office,” who was ultimately fired. Nor did Lusher CEO Kathy Riedlinger, though she did say the woman had worked at the school for three years.
She said the theft was reported to the New Orleans Police Department.
The audit says, “The total amount stolen is believed to be $25,000, and all was recovered from the dismissed employee.” Auditors recommended that the school keep a closer eye on its blank checks, and in January, the school did develop procedures to do so.
Riedlinger said the school “moved the checks into our safe. And the only people that have access to that are the CFO and me, the CEO.”
She credited the school’s procedures for detecting the theft. CFO Lynden Swayze “kept careful count of the checks” and “realized that several were missing.”
An employee in the accounting department at Lusher Charter
School embezzled $25,000 last school year by forging five checks she wrote to herself
from the school’s bank account, according to an audit report obtained by The
Lens.
The audit report doesn’t identify the “high ranking employee in the Business Office,” who was ultimately fired. Nor did Lusher CEO Kathy Riedlinger, though she did say the woman had worked at the school for three years.
She said the theft was reported to the New Orleans Police Department.
The audit says, “The total amount stolen is believed to be $25,000, and all was recovered from the dismissed employee.” Auditors recommended that the school keep a closer eye on its blank checks, and in January, the school did develop procedures to do so.
Riedlinger said the school “moved the checks into our safe. And the only people that have access to that are the CFO and me, the CEO.”
She credited the school’s procedures for detecting the theft. CFO Lynden Swayze “kept careful count of the checks” and “realized that several were missing.”
An employee in the accounting department at Lusher Charter School embezzled
$25,000 last school year by forging five checks she wrote to herself from the
school’s bank account, according to an audit report obtained by The Lens.
The audit report doesn’t identify the “high ranking employee in the Business Office,” who was ultimately fired. Nor did Lusher CEO Kathy Riedlinger, though she did say the woman had worked at the school for three years.
She said the theft was reported to the New Orleans Police Department.
The audit says, “The total amount stolen is believed to be $25,000, and all was recovered from the dismissed employee.” Auditors recommended that the school keep a closer eye on its blank checks, and in January, the school did develop procedures to do so.
Riedlinger said the school “moved the checks into our safe. And the only people that have access to that are the CFO and me, the CEO.”
She credited the school’s procedures for detecting the theft. CFO Lynden Swayze “kept careful count of the checks” and “realized that several were missing.”
It took a few months for the school to get the money back, Riedlinger said.
The audit report doesn’t identify the “high ranking employee in the Business Office,” who was ultimately fired. Nor did Lusher CEO Kathy Riedlinger, though she did say the woman had worked at the school for three years.
She said the theft was reported to the New Orleans Police Department.
The audit says, “The total amount stolen is believed to be $25,000, and all was recovered from the dismissed employee.” Auditors recommended that the school keep a closer eye on its blank checks, and in January, the school did develop procedures to do so.
Riedlinger said the school “moved the checks into our safe. And the only people that have access to that are the CFO and me, the CEO.”
She credited the school’s procedures for detecting the theft. CFO Lynden Swayze “kept careful count of the checks” and “realized that several were missing.”
It took a few months for the school to get the money back, Riedlinger said.
An employee in the accounting department at Lusher Charter School embezzled
$25,000 last school year by forging five checks she wrote to herself from the
school’s bank account, according to an audit report obtained by The Lens.
The audit report doesn’t identify the “high ranking employee in the Business Office,” who was ultimately fired. Nor did Lusher CEO Kathy Riedlinger, though she did say the woman had worked at the school for three years.
She said the theft was reported to the New Orleans Police Department.
The audit says, “The total amount stolen is believed to be $25,000, and all was recovered from the dismissed employee.” Auditors recommended that the school keep a closer eye on its blank checks, and in January, the school did develop procedures to do so.
Riedlinger said the school “moved the checks into our safe. And the only people that have access to that are the CFO and me, the CEO.”
She credited the school’s procedures for detecting the theft. CFO Lynden Swayze “kept careful count of the checks” and “realized that several were missing.”
It took a few months for the school to get the money back, Riedlinger said.
The audit report doesn’t identify the “high ranking employee in the Business Office,” who was ultimately fired. Nor did Lusher CEO Kathy Riedlinger, though she did say the woman had worked at the school for three years.
She said the theft was reported to the New Orleans Police Department.
The audit says, “The total amount stolen is believed to be $25,000, and all was recovered from the dismissed employee.” Auditors recommended that the school keep a closer eye on its blank checks, and in January, the school did develop procedures to do so.
Riedlinger said the school “moved the checks into our safe. And the only people that have access to that are the CFO and me, the CEO.”
She credited the school’s procedures for detecting the theft. CFO Lynden Swayze “kept careful count of the checks” and “realized that several were missing.”
It took a few months for the school to get the money back, Riedlinger said.
The audit report doesn’t identify the “high ranking employee
in the Business Office,” who was ultimately fired. Nor did Lusher CEO Kathy
Riedlinger, though she did say the woman had worked at the school for three
years.
She said the theft was reported to the New Orleans Police
Department.
The audit says, “The total amount stolen is believed to be
$25,000, and all was recovered from the dismissed employee.” Auditors
recommended that the school keep a closer eye on its blank checks, and in
January, the school did develop procedures to do so.
Riedlinger said the school “moved the checks into our safe.
And the only people that have access to that are the CFO and me, the CEO.”
She credited the school’s procedures for detecting the
theft. CFO Lynden Swayze “kept careful count of the checks” and “realized that
several were missing.”
It took a few months for the school to get the money back,
Riedlinger said.
This isn’t the first time a business employee has been
accused of stealing from a charter school. In 2010, Kelly
Thompson was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing $660,000 while
business manager at Langston Hughes Academy.
Lusher’s auditors also cited the school for failing to
record some financial transactions and failing to track its federal and state
grant expenses. Charters must submit paperwork to the school board to be
reimbursed for federal grants.
The school didn’t track $407,000 in federal grant expenses,
according to the report, and it didn’t submit reimbursement requests to the
parish school board for those costs. In the course of the audit, the school
tracked and submitted those requests.
The school also had $243,000 recorded in grant
reimbursements the previous school year, but that money actually wasn’t
received. Auditors adjusted the school’s financial records to account for the discrepancy.
The school also missed its deadline to submit the audit to
the Orleans Parish School Board. The report is dated Friday; it was due Sept.
30.
The report says the delay was caused by the amount of work
it took to reconcile financial records.
A New Orleans police report on embezzlement at Lusher Charter School provides
more details regarding the theft of $25,000 last school year, including the name
of the employee involved.
Accounting office employee Lauren Hightower, 30, forged the signature of Lusher Chief Executive Officer Kathy Riedlinger and others on six checks, according to the report released Friday to The Lens.
The theft at Lusher came to light through an audit report made public last week that said only that a “high ranking employee in the business office” embezzled the money.
Lusher officials tightened internal controls over blank checks in response to the theft.
Hightower has not been charged with a crime, and the investigation is ongoing, New Orleans Police spokesman Officer Garry Flot said.
Reached by phone, Hightower declined to comment.
Riedlinger said Friday that the school reported the theft to the police, the district attorney and the legislative auditor, asking each to “pursue this to the fullest.”
The forged checks were discovered by school Chief Financial Officer Lynden Swayze.
According to the police report:
Swayze told police that Hightower initially told her she’d taken 11 checks and cashed one $5,000 check. Hightower then told Swayze that she shredded the 10 checks that were left.
Swayze requested copies of the school’s checks from Whitney Bank and found that Hightower had actually written out five checks to herself for $5,000 each, and an $800 check made payable to cash.
The checks showed forged signatures in the name of Riedlinger, Swayze, middle school Principal Brenda Bourne and high school Principal Wiley Ates, according to Swayze’s rendering of the incident.
Police officers confiscated copies of the forged checks for evidence.
ook a few months for the school to get the money back, Riedlinger
said.Accounting office employee Lauren Hightower, 30, forged the signature of Lusher Chief Executive Officer Kathy Riedlinger and others on six checks, according to the report released Friday to The Lens.
The theft at Lusher came to light through an audit report made public last week that said only that a “high ranking employee in the business office” embezzled the money.
Lusher officials tightened internal controls over blank checks in response to the theft.
Hightower has not been charged with a crime, and the investigation is ongoing, New Orleans Police spokesman Officer Garry Flot said.
Reached by phone, Hightower declined to comment.
Riedlinger said Friday that the school reported the theft to the police, the district attorney and the legislative auditor, asking each to “pursue this to the fullest.”
The forged checks were discovered by school Chief Financial Officer Lynden Swayze.
According to the police report:
Swayze told police that Hightower initially told her she’d taken 11 checks and cashed one $5,000 check. Hightower then told Swayze that she shredded the 10 checks that were left.
Swayze requested copies of the school’s checks from Whitney Bank and found that Hightower had actually written out five checks to herself for $5,000 each, and an $800 check made payable to cash.
The checks showed forged signatures in the name of Riedlinger, Swayze, middle school Principal Brenda Bourne and high school Principal Wiley Ates, according to Swayze’s rendering of the incident.
Police officers confiscated copies of the forged checks for evidence.
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