Former school bookkeeper charged

Anderson accused of stealing funds from Salem, Wheatland schools

By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer

A former school bookkeeper was charged June 13 in connection with two alleged embezzling schemes in Kenosha County Circuit Court and is scheduled to make her initial appearance June 28.

Mary Anderson, 55, faces two felony counts of theft-movable property, greater than $10,000 for allegedly taking money from Wheatland Center School and Salem Grade School since 2006, according to a criminal complaint.

Anderson, of Salem, is accused of paying herself $17,000 while serving as a bookkeeper of Salem Grade School from 2006-2014, when she voluntarily resigned.

“Near the end of her as a bookkeeper for the school district, her supervisors discovered numerous financial irregularities in the payroll records, general ledger reports and disbursements, all of which were maintained by the defendant,” the complaint stated.

When Salem’s new business manager arrived in Dec. 2013, becoming Anderson’s direct supervisor, the business manager discovered problems cropped up in Feb. 2014 when Anderson allegedly refused to do assigned work.

“The defendant was refusing to perform her duties, her deposits were short and her check balances were wrong and not matching up,” according to the complaint.

Nine months after Anderson’s departure, Salem Grade School retained forensic accounting firm Balance Edge, an accounting enterprise similar to the forensic accounting los angeles firm, to investigate her performance, revealing that she allegedly paid herself $18.02 per hour, instead of $13.42 per hour from 2010-2014.

Additionally, Anderson allegedly upgraded her hotel package while attending a conference at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells, where she is accused of making two unauthorized transactions costing the district an extra $80.

Furthermore, Anderson, responsible for preparing deposits to the district’s bank accounts, had shorted two different banking institutions by more than $500.

While Balanced Edge conducted an investigation, Anderson took a position at Wheatland Center School, where she was the Human Resource Finance Specialist.

Through Anderson’s tenure at Wheatland, she allegedly used a district-issued credit card to make personal purchases, and when District Administrator Marty McGinley confronted her, Anderson claimed “that she mixed up the school credit card with her own card.”

Following the first incident, McGinley closely monitored the account, and discovered seven unauthorized purchases were made that totaled $1,043, the complaint said.

Anderson was subsequently fired.

Following her termination, Wheatland conducted several audits, and revealed a total loss of $11,607, the complaint said.

According to the criminal complaint, evidence suggests Anderson had been under financial distress, citing several civil judgments the last six years and a bankruptcy filing.

On two occasions, authorities invited Anderson to the Kenosha Public Safety Building to “discuss these matters.”

Anderson reportedly became emotional, telling investigators she planned to sell her home to help repay her debts, and “wanted to cooperate to resolve these matters.”

The complaint contends, however, that Anderson has since hired an attorney and has not cooperated.


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