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School District Accountant charged for stealing lunch money

How Your Wallet Can Save You Money

It wasn't the school bully stealing lunch money and stuffing her bra at a school in California.

A former accountant at the Rialto Unified School District is accused of stealing as much as $3 million of the school's cash for student lunches, according to CBS News. Police say Judith Oakes, 48, may have been stealing money for up to 14 years, CBS reported.

The Los Angeles Times reported Oakes was arrested in August on suspicion of embezzlement and she resigned her position at the school board. Police said she had thousands of dollars on her when she was arrested, and she is believed to have been caught by a surveillance camera stuffing cash into her bra.

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The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reported this week that Oakes has been charged with eight counts of embezzlement for stealing $1.8 million and eight counts of a public officer crime. While police told media she may have stolen more money, the statute of limitations prevents the charges from including more than the $1.8 million allegedly stolen within the last eight years.

It's unclear how such huge sums of missing cash could have gone unnoticed for years, but local, state and federal agencies are investigating.

The accountant worked for the school board for 25 years, and she was making about $60,000 a year in legal earnings, reports said. Her late husband was a principal in San Bernardino, according to the LA Times.

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