Old Bridge school board member, wife charged with stealing $50K from PTA, sports program
OLD BRIDGE - A township board of education member and his wife are facing charges they stole more than $50,000 from the PTA and a youth sports program.
Leonardo Marchetta, 42, and his wife Dana, 41, were charged Monday by township police in connection with the alleged theft of $41,067.90 from the Grissom School PTA and its vendors, and $12,417.16 from the Rebels Football and Cheer Program. Dana Marchetta, police say, had been involved in the Grissom and Salk PTA organizations and the Rebels program, and allegedly misused her positions in the organizations for her own financial benefit.
She is charged with altering checks by falsifying signatures and modifying an Old Bridge Police Department Incident Report, which she then presented to the Salk PTA Board.
Police also allege that some of the stolen funds were then deposited into her husband's personal accounts.
Police also say the two allegedly "conspired" to benefit from the stolen funds.
Dana Marchetta has been charged with seven counts of forgery, four counts of passing bad checks, three counts of theft by deception, two counts of theft, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, forgery by altering documents, public records fraud, falsifying records, money laundering, and conspiracy, police said.
Leonardo Marchetta has been charged with seven counts of passing a bad check, two counts of theft, theft by deception and conspiracy.
"The Old Bridge Township Public Schools extends gratitude to local and county law enforcement for their dedication to safeguarding our students, schools and families," Superintendent of Schools David Cittadino said in a statement. "Regrettably, the school district was notified of being a named victim in this matter via targeted fraudulent check submissions for goods and services. We trust in the judicial process to address this matter appropriately, and we look forward to swiftly moving past this incident, allowing our district and community to focus on our primary mission of serving children."
In September, it was reported that a board member of the Grissom Elementary School PTA had been removed from office over issues involving the organization's money, the PTA said in a notice to parents, guardians and faculty posted on social media.
The notice, signed by members of the interim Grissom PTA executive board, did not identify the PTA board member who was removed.
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"Old Bridge Township School District officials are aware of the matter. We were notified that the Grissom and Salk School PTAs reported the financial irregularities to NJPTA officials and we are working collectively with the Old Bridge Township Police Department who are investigating the matter," Cittadino said at the time in an email.
In a statement, members of the executive board for the Rebels Football and Cheer Association said they were not in a position to respond to any allegations "as this is a current investigation with Old Bridge Police."
Detective Jessica Caffey was the arresting officer.
Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Caffey at jcaffey@oldbridge.com.
Email: sloyer@gannettnj.com
Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Old Bridge school board member, wife charged with stealing $50K
