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On Wednesday, December 14, Pennsylvania authorities reported that former school administrator Katherine Paprocka has been accused of embezzling over $600,000 from the school she worked in.
As per the New York Post, 36-year-old Paprocka served as a senior administrator at East Norriton's Penn Christian Academy from July 2020 to December 2021.
The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office accused the former administrator of misreporting school accounts and using her illicit gains to fund in-vitro fertilization medical treatments, rental property payments, and purchase family vacations.
As per the Independent, Paprocka is currently facing 29 felony counts, including theft by decision, deceptive or fraudulent business practices, and forgery. She is currently free on $99,000 bail.
Katherine Paprocka forged employee signatures among other crimes
As per the District Attorney's Office, Katherine Paprocka was accused of exploiting Penn Christian Academy's non-profit status for her own gain.
She allegedly forged employee signatures to steal from the organization's payroll, as well as crowd-funded donations that had been set up to support the school.
According to the Independent, the school reported their suspicions to authorities after discovering certain funding irregularities. While Paprocka reported only $12,000 in school expenses, she had received $62974.79 on her credit card. The large payment led officials to believe she was stealing from the non-profit.
As per the criminal complaint, in order to investigate the matter, the school hired an accountant who reportedly confirmed their suspicions. Paprocka reportedly fired several employees who handled the school's finances, prompting the officials to bring in an outsider.
The criminal complaint stated:
"In all his years as an accountant, he has never seen a business entity use so many bank accounts and so many payroll companies in a short amount of time"
6ABC reported that upon further investigation, school officials discovered that due to Paprocka's supposed scheme, several employees had not received their salaries for weeks. The former administrator reportedly claimed that it was due to a lack of funding in the organization.
In an official statement, the District Attorney's office outlined what Katherine Paprocka allegedly used the stolen money for.
The document read:
“Paprocka used more than a half million dollars of stolen funds for family vacations to London, New York and Florida, as well as for other activities including rental property payments, car rentals, clothing purchases, restaurant meals, Amazon purchases and payments for in-vitro fertilization medical treatments."
Katherine Paprocka was fired from her role a few months after the investigation began. The New York Post reported that despite the fact that she is out on bail, she is not allowed to leave Pennsylvania. On Thursday, December 15, her attorney stated that she denies the charges.
