Sibling Cafeteria Workers Steal Nearly $500,000 From Schools
New Canaan NM Aug 15 2018
When sisters Marie Wilson and Joanne Pascarelli stopped working in the cafeterias at New Canaan High School and Saxe Middle School, there was a substantial increase in daily cash deposits.
It was no coincidence, police say.
The women were charged over the weekend with first-degree larceny by defrauding a community. Both posted $50,000 bail.
Police said the loss to the New Canaan school system totaled $478,588 for the five years covered by their investigation. But the women were in positions to handle and control cash for much longer and police assert it’s likely the pair stole for 15 years, according to the warrants for their arrest.
Wilson, 67, of Wilton, and Pascarelli, 61, of Stratford, no longer work for the school system. Wilson was the assistant food director at New Canaan High School. Pascarelli ran the food program at Saxe Middle School, police said.
The school system began a review of cafeteria finances after a worker complained about possible theft, according to the warrants. Pascarelli was placed on administrative leave in November 2017 as the investigation continued and resigned in December after being told she was about to be fired. Her sister resigned days later. Attempts to reach lawyers for the women were unsuccessful.
Cafeteria workers told police that when they worked as cashiers, they never counted the money in their drawers before or after their shifts. Instead, Wilson and Pascarelli would collect the cash drawers and count the money in their offices, according to the warrants.
Pascarelli would visit cashiers between lunch periods and take large bills out of their registers, the employees told police. She never said how much she was taking, according to the warrant for her arrest.
Wilson and Pascarelli would have the cashiers sign blank deposit slips for the bank, according to the warrants.
One employee told police that she once questioned Pascarelli about her procedures for handling cash and in retaliation was assigned to wash dishes for months.
When one employee started raising concerns about how money was handled, Wilson transferred her from the high school to the middle school. The employee said she was surprised the school system did not pick up on the alleged thefts sooner, according to the warrants.
The school system imposed stricter financial controls on its cafeterias in recent years, but both women directed employees to ignore the new cash handling requirements, according to the warrants.
In interviews with police, both women denied taking any money.
New Canaan Superintendent Bryan Luizzi, in a letter to the community, wrote “we are deeply upset by this alleged violation of our trust and the trust of the entire community.”
The school district has been working with its auditors to improve financial procedures and controls, he wrote.
Courant
