A former Glendale Elementary School District employee, Anna Pacheco, has been indicted by a State Grand Jury on 6 felony counts related to theft, misuse of public monies, fraudulent schemes, and computer tampering.
According to the Arizona Auditor General’s Office, from August 2018 through November 2019, Pacheco may have deleted 168 of her used leave hours from the District’s payroll software thereby converting those hours to unused leave, creating the opportunity to use those hours twice.
Pacheco was able to adjust or delete her leave transactions, even though District policy prohibited that practice. In November 2019, a former payroll technician reported to District officials that Pacheco’s accrued leave recorded in the payroll software did not reflect her absences. As a result, District officials discovered Pacheco’s payroll software login credentials were used to improperly delete some of her used leave hours and questioned Ms. Pacheco about the manipulation of her leave time. Pacheco responded that it looked like she was stealing money and on December 6, 2019, submitted her resignation, effective the same day. The District withheld paying Pacheco for valid unused leave on her final paycheck resulting in a $255 recoupment of its $1,660 loss.
The Arizona Auditor General’s Office also found that the District “took appropriate action by reporting to us alleged financial misconduct” by the former payroll technician.