Woman allegedly embezzled $438,000 from Catholic school fundraiser

A 40-year-old mother was arrested Tuesday for allegedly embezzling more than $400,000 from a Catholic school’s fundraising program, Orange County prosecutors said.

Adela Maria Tapia allegedly used some of the money at the department store Nordstrom, racked up $60,000 in credit card charges and paid for her children's private school tuition.

Tapia, who lives in Tustin, faces two felony counts of grand theft and 13 felony counts of money laundering, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. If convicted on all charges, she could be sentenced to 14 years and 4 months in prison.

Between September 2006 and September 2011, Tapia ran the scrip card fundraising program at Holy Family Cathedral School in Orange.

The program raises about $200,000 annually for the school by purchasing gift cards at a discount, selling them to school families or parishioners and keeping the difference.

When families paid for gift cards with cash, prosecutors say Tapia pocketed the money and deposited it into her bank account. In all, she allegedly embezzled $438,000, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Marc Labreche.

“It’s all lifestyle enhancement using other people’s money,” Labreche said.

From a safe at the school, prosecutors say Tapia took scrip cards and sold them to family members.

The scheme was uncovered when Tapia was transferred to an office manager position in 2011, prosecutors said.

The school’s principal noticed about $120,000 worth of scrip cards were missing from the safe where the cards were stored, then reported it to the Orange Police Department.

The three-year investigation saw a forensic accountant review more than 83,000 pages of banking and financial records.

It’s unclear if Tapia had retained an attorney. She is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.

Holy Family Cathedral School Principal Margaret Harlow and the cathedral's rector, Msgr. Doug Cook, said in a letter to parents on Tuesday that the school was reimbursed for the missing money by the Diocese of Orange's insurance company.

The school has since improved the financial oversight of the scrip fundraising program. No programs were cut or tuition increased on account of the alleged theft, Harlow and Cook wrote.

"As a community of faith," they wrote, "we ask that you pray to God for all parties involved, and that a fair and just outcome is the ultimate result."

Church volunteer avoids jail by repaying pilfered funds in Scrip

 A volunteer for Holy Family Catholic Church in Caledonia avoided jail on an embezzlement charge after paying back more than $18,000 pilfered from the church over a three-year period.

Deborah Slocum Wright, 47, appeared in Kent County Circuit Court Tuesday to be sentenced for felony embezzlement. Originally charged with embezzlement between $1,000 and $20,000, the charge was amended to attempted embezzlement based on her cooperation with investigators.

She could have faced up to five years in prison on the original charge. Instead, Wright left Judge Donald Johnston's courtroom a free woman after providing the court with a $18,430 check to cover the missing funds. She's still on the hook for $798 in fines and court costs.

Thefts began in July, 2010 and continued through Nov. 2013 at Holy Family, 9669 Kraft Ave. SE, court records show.

The Kent County Sheriff's Department launched an investigation last March after the Rev. Mark Bauer and the parish CPA reported sales and profits from its Great Lakes Script program were lower than in past years, according to court documents.

The missing funds were traced back to 2010 when Wright began volunteering with the parish scrip program. Used by non-profit organizations, participants buy goods at participating retailers using scrip, with rebates going to the participating non-profits. Organizations have raised more than $500 million over the last 20 years through the program, according to the Great Lakes Scrip website.

Wright handled all of the church's scrip cards, court documents show. Holy Family reported a cash loss of $10,875 and scrip card losses of $7,555, court documents show

Sheriff's deputies obtained a warrant to search Wright's home on Sienna Drive SE in Gaines Township as part of the investigation.

Two weeks after the investigation was launched, Bauer sent letters to 896 parish families explaining a volunteer had been let go due to the misappropriation of church funds. The letter did not provide details of the investigation.

Wright, who was charged in September, was released after posting a $1,000 bond.