Former VWHS teacher pleads to thefts

Van Wert independent

A former Van Wert High School teacher has pleaded to charges she forged financial documents, misused school property and stole money while an advisor for the school yearbook.

Sandra D. Adams pleaded guilty to a prosecutor’s bill of information on Friday charging her with unauthorized use of property, a fifth-degree felony offense. As part of her sentence, Adams agreed to pay $13,224 in restitution to the school district. She was granted treatment in lieu of conviction and was given a community control sentence.

The Van Wert Police Department recently completed an investigation after an unexplained loss of money from the yearbook fund controlled by Adams was discovered.

An audit was performed that disclosed several suspicious and unexplained expenditures and missing revenues generated from events such as the Powderpuff football games, admissions, concession sales and sales of athletic jerseys.

A series of checks were also issued to Adams, who also taught government at the high school, for reimbursement of yearbook camps that never actually took place, but for which the teacher requested personal reimbursement. As part of the reimbursement requests, Adams provided forged financial documents and fraudulent reimbursement payment requests to the school district, although students never actually attended the camps.

Additional discoveries involved the theft of yearbook advertising payments and a number of Walmart gift cards purchased by Adams on the school account that were redeemed by Adams for her personal use.

School property that included a camera and an iPad were also found to be involved in several pawn shop loan transactions, while approximately 100 old yearbooks belonging to the school district were sold to an online business without school authorities’ consent.

In addition to her guilty plea on Friday, the Van Wert City Board of Education accepted her resignation as a teacher during a special meeting held that morning.

Updated 11/5/12