WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2005

D.A. BROWN: FORMER PTA PRESIDENT OF WOODSIDE PUBLIC SCHOOL CHARGED WITH MISHANDLING $40,000 IN FUNDS
Allegedly Falsified Books and Records and Embezzled Candy Sale Money

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, joined by Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, today announced that the former president of the Parents-Teachers Association of a Woodside, Queens, public elementary school has been charged with mishandling more than $40,000 in PTA funds – including the embezzlement of $23,000 collected from student candy sales.

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Laura AlQaisi, 38, of 47-35 159th Street in Flushing, who served as PTA president of Public School 152 from 1996 through June 2003. AlQaisi is charged with one count of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, four counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, five counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, and Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree. She faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

District Attorney Brown said, “Public School 152's parents, teachers and students have spent many years raising tens of thousands of dollars for a school computer room, only now to see that dream callously erased by the defendant who allegedly used the association’s funds as her own private piggy bank. Her alleged conduct is a betrayal of the trust of the parents who elected her to serve as their leader.”

Schools Chancellor Klein said, “This behavior has no place anywhere in or near our children’s schools. I thank District Attorney Brown and his staff for working with us to ensure that this individual will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

District Attorney Brown said that the matter came to light when, during the course of a Department of Education Regional Office audit of P.S. 152's PTA, discrepancies were discovered between the PTA annual financial reports and PTA bank account records. According to the criminal charges, numerous PTA checks, totaling $16,600, were discovered made payable to “cash” or to “Laura AlQaisi,” which had been cashed by the defendant. It is alleged that the defendant concealed her conduct by controlling the PTA records and checkbook and falsifying entries. In one instance, for example, a PTA check made payable to “Laura AlQaisi” in the amount of $3,300 and endorsed by the defendant was entered into PTA’s check register as a “candy sale reimbursement” for $48. Although Department of Education regulations require the signature of two PTA officials on checks, it is charged that the defendant in carrying out her scheme either would have other PTA officers endorse blank checks or would negotiate the checks with only her signature.

The criminal complaint further alleges that $23,400 raised by the PTA over a four-year period through the sale of chocolate and other items by students had never been deposited by the defendant into the PTA’s bank account. The thefts are alleged to have occurred between September 1, 1999, and July 1, 2004, during which time the defendant handled all financial activities of the PTA, including depositing and withdrawing money from the PTA bank account. Department of Education regulations forbid personal use of PTA funds or use of such funds for purposes not approved by the PTA membership in accordance with their by-laws.

The defendant, who surrendered yesterday afternoon, is expected to be arraigned later today in Queens Criminal Court in Kew Gardens.

The investigation was conducted by Contract Officer Richard Switach, of the New York City Department of Education, under the supervision of Sandy Brawer, Director of the Regional Operating Center for Regions 4 and 5.

Assistant District Attorney Diane M. Peress, Deputy Bureau Chief, of the District Attorney’s Economic Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Gregory C. Pavlides, Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Linda M. Cantoni.

It should be noted that criminal charges are merely accusations and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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