DA: Official used school money on vacations, fertility care
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- A former administrator at a Christian school is accused of misusing funds to pay for vacations, restaurant meals, Amazon purchases and in-vitro fertilization treatments, the Montgomery County District Attorney's office said Wednesday.
Katherine Paprocka faces 29 felony counts related to the theft of $579,000 from the Penn Christian Academy in East Norriton and businesses that worked with the school.
Police and county detectives found that Paprocka, 36, forged signatures of other school employees and volunteers on paperwork, obtained credit cards in their names and claimed to lenders and other companies that she was the owner of the school.
But as a nonprofit, Penn Christian Academy does not have an owner, the DA's office says.
According to a criminal complaint, a school donor hired an outside accountant to look at the school's books. The accountant noted that "in all his years as an accountant, he has never seen a business entity use so many bank accounts and so many payroll companies in a short amount of time" as the school did, the complaint says.
The accountant estimated in June that the school's accounts to vendors, staff and the IRS were $1.2 million in the red.
The document quotes other staff members who spoke to investigators and said they hadn't been paid for some weeks of work. Some left their jobs because they hadn't been paid and said they are still owed money by the school.
While the school experienced payroll issues, Paprocka was setting school money aside for herself, a criminal complaint alleges. She's accused of spending school money on in-vitro fertilization treatments and vacations to London and Clearwater, Florida.
Paprocka was arrested and unable to make bail. She is in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility and is set for a preliminary court hearing on Dec. 19.
"This is a reminder that every non-profit organization needs to have checks on any employee who has access to its funds so more than one person has control and oversight of the monetary activity. It's the only way to be assured the organization's money is safe," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said in a statement.
East Norriton police began the investigation after a school donor noticed money was going toward lending companies.
CBS Philadelphia has reached out to Paprocka's attorney for comment.