By Nate Leskovic
Times Staff
5/22/08
Three school officials say they are outraged after the indictment last week of the former cafeteria director of the schools for allegedly stealing $83,000 in lunch money from students over nearly three years.
After a year-long police investigation, Suzeanne Greene of South Boston was indicted by a Norfolk County Grand Jury on May 15 on three counts of larceny of more than $250—corresponding to missing money from the high school, middle school and elementary school lunch programs. The indictment was announced last week by District Attorney William R. Keating, who would not provide details of his investigation
“There’s nothing that makes you feel worse than the idea that someone is stealing kids’ lunch money,” says Glenn Pavlicek, School Committee member. “It’s terrible.”
“Food service is run as a cash business solely on the revenue of students buying lunch,” according to Superintendent Magdalene Giffune, responding to a question about whether any of the allegedly stolen money came from taxes.
“There is a perception that somehow (the alleged theft) affects other operations of the school department,” says Giffune. “That’s a concern that we want to dispel. There were no positions cut and there were no services to students that were denied as a result of this.”
Giffune says the alleged thefts left less funds available for cafeteria services, money that could be used, for example, to purchase or upgrade equipment.
The school department changed accounting procedures after discovering the alleged theft, she says, and all incoming cash now goes through the main office to be reconciled. This includes lunch money and other income, such as bus and athletics fees.
“I think it’s awful and reprehensible,” Giffune says. “It’s a good thing that our checks and balances were in place, because we caught it and went immediately to the police.” Deputy Police Chief Paul Nolan says the alleged thefts occurred between September 2004 and April 2007. A team comprised of town and state police, as well as forensic accountants from the district attorney’s office, spent a year investigating the case.
Pavlicek and School Committee Chair Beirne Lovely say they are pleased Jackie Morgan, director of food services for the schools, discovered the problem a year ago after comparing receipts with deposits.
“We intend to seek every possible of means of reimburesement should the named person be found guilty of the offense in a court...” Lovely says.
“It was very time consuming,” says Nolan of the investigation. “It was a lot of work to compile records and review deposits. It was done by hand, not by computer.” Chief Nolan would say nothing further about the investigation in a subsequent interview.
Greene will be summonsed for arraignment soon, though no date has been set. No warrant for her arrest was issued.
After the discovery last year, Greene was suspended and then fired from her position.
The maximum penalty for larceny over $250 is five years in the state prison, according to a statement from the DA’s office.