More details emerge in alleged theft of Berks school PTO funds

Steven Henshaw, Reading Eagle, Pa.
·2 min read

Sep. 27—A Shoemakersville woman who served for four years as an officer with the parent-teacher organization of a northern Berks County elementary school faces criminal charges after state police said she made more than $51,000 worth of unauthorized purchases and ATM withdraws from the group's bank account.

Alison J. Haines, 39, admitted to troopers when she was interviewed at the Hamburg station on Sept. 15 that she used a business debit card assigned to her as an officer of the Perry Elementary PTO to buy grocery purchases and to pay bills. She said her use of the debit card for personal expenses started with small purchases but "quickly snowballed out of control."

Perry Elementary is in the Hamburg School District.

Haines of the 700 block of Main Street remained free to await a hearing after arraignment Tuesday before District Judge Kim L. Bagenstose in Hamburg. She faces charges of theft by unlawful taking and multiple counts of unauthorized use of a credit card.

According to investigators:

On Sept. 11, members of the Perry PTO came to the Hamburg police station to report a theft of funds.

Through a self-audit of bank records, PTO members discovered numerous unauthorized transactions made by Haines. The organization's policy requires board approval for all purchases over $100; purchasers must provide receipts to the board at the next meeting.

The transactions dating to 2019 were made using a business debit card assigned to Haines by the PTO.

Bank records and receipts showed Haines frequently made purchases at Walmart and ALDI, both in Tilden Township, as well as shopping on Amazon and making cash withdrawals from local ATMs totaling more than $19,000.

Haines neither obtained approval nor provided receipts for the transactions.

PTO members reported a total of $51,549 in unauthorized transactions.

Receipts of transactions from Walmart showed Haines regularly used the card to purchase groceries and often requested cash back at checkout. The unauthorized Walmart transactions totaled more than $21,000 from 2020 through part of 2023.

Records also reflect unauthorized purchase totaling $674 at ALDI from June 2020 through August 2021, and online purchases from Amazon totaling $3,882 from 2021 though part of this year.