TUCSON, AZ – A State Grand Jury has indicted the former finance manager for the Tucson Unified School District’s Pueblo High School bookstore, Rosa Maria Ordonez, on two counts of Theft and one felony violation of Duties and Liabilities of Custodian of Public Monies.
The Auditor General found that “although District officials took prompt action when they discovered discrepancies with Ms. Ordonez’s deposits in August 2018, they had historically failed to ensure all bookstore receipts were deposited. Specifically, they did not have compensating controls when bookstore employees performed incompatible cash-handling functions and did not always ensure payments received by mail were appropriately recorded and deposited. Additionally, District officials did not ensure that school administrators understood how to oversee bookstore operations.”
Pueblo High School serves approximately 1,800 students in grades 9 through 12.
According to the Arizona Auditor General, in February 2003, Ordonez became the bookstore finance manager. Ordonez was responsible for recording and depositing monies related to payments for athletic event tickets, yearbooks, parking permits, and academic fees. Ordonez was also responsible for safeguarding change funds used in the bookstore and at athletic events.
In August 2018, Ordonez began failing to report to work, and District officials noticed that revenues receipted at Pueblo High School were not being deposited into a District account. As a result, District officials visited the bookstore but could not locate Ordonez, the unaccounted for receipts, or $1,000 of change fund cash that Ordonez should have secured in the bookstore safe. Ordonez did not report to work after August 20, 2018, and the District accepted her resignation, which was submitted by a family member on her behalf on September 20, 2018.
The Auditor General found that in July and August 2018, Ordonez issued 68 receipts to students, parents, and faculty totaling $2,056. The monies Ordonez collected were intended for student athletics, yearbook purchases, parking permits, and other school-related fees, but the monies never fulfilled their intended purpose because she failed to deposit them into a District bank account.
In July 2018, Ordonez and the assistant principal received 2 checks from the District for establishing school change funds: $200 for bookstore operations and $800 for school athletic event tickets sales. The assistant principal told the Auditor General’s Office he was unaware of expected District bookstore procedures but negotiated these checks and provided the cash to Ordonez. She should have maintained the cash from these 2 checks in the bookstore cash register and safe; however, at the end of August 2018, District officials discovered that the combined $1,000 of change fund cash was missing from the bookstore, and they could not find Ordonez.