INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Attorney General wants to make Aletta Nowlin pay.
Todd Rokita has filed a complaint in Hamilton County Court seeking a court order requiring the former extracurricular activities treasurer to repay nearly a quarter million dollars she misappropriated from Clay Middle School.
The complaint hinges on a State Board of Accounts (SBOA) investigation. After irregularities were discovered, Carmel-Clay Schools officials contacted the SBOA, which launched an investigation.
The investigation found Nowlin had unusual and unsupervised access to several streams of money collected and spent for extracurricular activities at Clay Middle School. She also was authorized a “big box store” credit card.
FOX59 reported in late October that for five-years the SBOA discovered missing money from athletic event admissions, cash collections and concession stand sales.
There were also unauthorized purchases from the school credit card that went for groceries, household items, jewelry, make-up and tens of thousands of dollars in gift cards.
The total was $223,946.40.
The only person mentioned in the SBOA report was Nowlin and she was cited 16 times.
Rokita is asking the court for a judgment against Nowlin for the full amount plus “attorney fees and (court) costs.”
Nowlin has been sent a summons. Court records do not indicate whether she has received it. There is no court date set yet for this matter.
Given the depth of the theft and how long it went on before it was discovered, FOX59 twice asked Carmel-Clay Superintendent Dr. Michael Beresford for an on-camera interview. He did not respond to the interview request instead sending a statement that reads:
“After administration noticed financial irregularities at Clay Middle School, district administration reported concerns to the State Board of Accounts. The State Board of Accounts performed an audit and found funds misappropriated, funds unaccounted for, and unauthorized credit card purchases by the Clay Middle School treasurer. The employee was terminated, and the case was turned over to authorities. CCS has increased training and implementation of internal controls across the district, at both the building and organizational levels. The district extends its gratitude to the State Board of Accounts for its assistance and diligence in this matter.”
It also appears parents of students at Clay Middle School were kept in the dark about the missing money. There is no mention of it on the either the school’s or the district’s website. And in October when FOX59 visited the parent drop-off at the school, parents we spoke with were unaware extracurricular funds were unaccounted for.
