Ex-treasurer accused of stealing $40,000 in funds

EVANSVILLE – A former middle school treasurer faces charges alleging that she stole $40,000 in textbook rental funds from the school and used the money for personal expenses.\nSherri Lynn Loehr, 46, faces a felony charge of theft alleging that she stole the money during the last three years while she was Oak Hill Middle School’s treasurer.\nThe charge was filed Friday by the Vanderburgh County prosecutor’s office. Loehr is expected to surrender to authorities on Monday.\nEvansville Vanderburgh School Corporation officials said a routine audit of Oak Hill Middle School’s budgets found $40,431.84 in textbook rental funds missing between 2005 and 2007.\nA probable cause affidavit states that Loehr was the sole person conducting the job of treasurer and handling the school’s accounts during that time period.\n“It was first brought to our attention that there was a discrepancy on Nov. 1,” Superintendent Vincent Bertram said Friday during a news conference. “I think the auditors were convinced that there was potential illegal activity.”\nInvestigators with the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Department said Loehr’s checking account, obtained through a subpoena, reflected deposits of cash that averaged more than $2,700 per month.\nSince November, when Loehr was placed on investigative suspension by the district, the deposits have dropped significantly, according to the affidavit.\nLoehr later resigned. She had worked for the Evansville Vanderburgh School Cooperation since 1998.\nThe affidavit states that Loehr, when interviewed by a sheriff’s deputy and a U.S. Secret Service agent, initially denied committing theft. She then admitted she had taken some cash from the school but had always paid it back, the affidavit states.\nLoehr allegedly told investigators that she did not keep written records of money she had taken, “but instead just tried to keep a running total in her mind.”\nBertram said the district is looking at adding more “internal controls” to prevent similar alleged incidents from happening in the future.\nDistrict officials hope to recover the money the audit found to be missing through restitution or other means.\n“We have a $10,000 annual bond on each treasurer,” Bertram said. “So we have, in that sense, insurance from each of those years that we’ll be able to hopefully collect.”