Friday, January 4, 2019

Former PTA president charged with embezzlement in San Diego

The Imperial Beach Charter School PTA president was arrested on suspicion of embezzling funds from the group, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Financial Crimes Unit said Wednesday.
A warrant was issued in November for 30-year-old Kaitlyn Birchman, a mother of two. Riverside County deputies arrested Birchman late Tuesday night at her home in Temecula.

Birchman was the head of the Imperial Beach Charter School's parent-teacher association until March, when she was voted off the board. Other members said her departure followed months of missing funds.

“There were thousands of dollars that hadn’t been paid,” current PTA treasurer and former Coronado Police sergeant Elizabeth McKay said.

According to McKay, vendors from previous years sent the PTA bills for unpaid services. McKay contacted the bank and discovered the PTA’s account no longer existed.
“The checks...she had written to herself and signed herself. ATM withdrawals that weren't anywhere near Imperial Beach or had anything to do with a PTA event."
The PTA confronted Birchman in March with the help of a Sheriff’s deputy, who spoke about embezzlement.

"She [Birchman] said that it was just a misunderstanding,” McKay said. “It was a lot of blind faith that they thought if she says everything is okay, then everything must be okay."
Birchman was booked in Riverside County and posted bond.

The former PTA president accused of stealing thousands of dollars from her children’s school, pleaded not guilty at San Diego Superior Court Thursday afternoon.
Kaitlyn Faith Birchman stood next to her attorney with a blank stare, as she listened to the charges she faces: Felony embezzlement, grand theft, and writing bad checks.
“The defendant wrote a check to a vendor of a fundraiser from the PTA bank account, knowing that that bank was closed, and there was no money in the bank account,” Deputy District Attorney Kimball Denton said in open court.

From 2016 to 2018, Birchman served as the PTA president at Imperial Beach Charter School. During that time, prosecutors said she stole at least $14,000 from the school’s membership fees, book drives, and holiday fairs.
“These are all fundraisers, where children grades K through 8 participated in raising money for their school,” Denton said. “As parents, we send our children to school, and we trust that PTA’s and organizations are taking care of our schools and taking care of our children. And that is clearly not what happened here.”
Acting on an arrest warrant, Temecula Police took Birchman into custody on New Year's Day. She has since posted $25,000 bail.

Her public defender, Ray Aragon, asked the judge not to raise the bail amount because she has no criminal record.
“Should these charges be accurate, they clearly are an aberration from her normally law-abiding life,” Aragon argued.
In lieu of raising bail, the judge imposed three special conditions onto Birchman for the duration of the case.
  • She must submit to a search at any time, even without a warrant.
  • She must be at least 100 yards away from Imperial Beach Charter School.
  • She must not take any part in any financial dealings through a school, PTA, or any volunteer activity.
“We just wanted these conditions in place to protect the safety of the community and to prevent her from any kind of future crime,” Denton said.
If convicted, Birchman faces a maximum sentence of three years, eight months.

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