Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog
Last month, former Ashland school secretary, Marissa Goldstein, was accused of embezzling $55,000 from the Warren School. Over her career at the Warren School, Goldstein is accused of stealing and depositing more than 80 checks written by kindergarten parents to the school for their children’s education. Additionally, she is accused of taking checks and cash from a 2015 book fair. Ashland Police reported that Principal Michael Caira reported the theft of $8,100 stolen from the school book fair which was held in mid April. Caira stated the collected money from the fair was put into a locked cabinet with only five people aware of its presence in the cabinet. Goldstein knew the location of the money because she was responsible for deposits. It wasn’t until September that the company that hosted the book far, Scholastic books, contacted the school inquiring about payment. Goldstein told Caira that she had, in fact, deposited the money and had also been in touch with Scholastic in an attempt to resolve the issue.
On September 28, Goldstein resigned after being told by Caira that he planned to fire her, based primarily on her work history. After her resignation, Caira called Scholastic himself who told him that Goldstein had never contacted them. Officers then began investigating the theft of the book fair money. Shortly after, it was discovered that there was also an issue with parents not fulfilling their children’s kindergarten payments. However, parents claimed that they had paid and sent in cancelled checks to prove it. Police investigated where these checks had been cashed and looked at the security footage of the banks. Videos showed a woman who looked like Goldstein depositing the stolen checks. Upon investigation into Goldstein’s bank account, it was found that she had deposited 67 checks made out to Ashland Public Schools for her own bank account, totaling $54,892. After this discovery, police immediately tried to track down Goldstein. However, the address she gave the school when she began working was fake and her parents did not seem to be interested in helping police find her. Eventually Goldstein’s lawyer contacted police and she was charged with larceny of kindergarten fees and the $8,000 in book sales.
The district’s insurance covered the amount of what was stolen by Goldstein. In a response to this event, superintendent Jim Adams claimed this was an “isolated incident” and has also enacted several additional measures to assure this does not happen again. Goldstein pleaded not guilty at her arraignment and was released on personal recognizance. Her next court appearance is on June 9th.
Miller, Norman. “Former Ashland School Secretary Charged with $54K Theft.” MetroWest Daily News. N.p., 1 June 2016. Web. 06 June 2016.
“Secretary Accused of Stealing $55,000 from Ashland School.” WCVB. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 June 2016.
