- Brenda Watts was originally arrested in January 2014 after a whistleblower came forward and exposed the scam
- She pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $120,000 over a five year period
- Whistleblower Beth Walsh said she became suspicious after discovering that a cash only register manned by Watts didn’t have any electronic records
- According to Channel 2, the judge presiding over the case ordered Watts to repay the money she stole but was sparred from having to serve any jail time
A former cafeteria manager pleaded guilty on Friday to stealing nearly $120,000 from a Georgia high school over a five year period.
Brenda Watts admitted to one charge of theft by conversion after stealing money from North Springs High School students and depositing the cash into her bank account, according to Channel 2 Action News.
Watts was originally arrested in January 2014 after a whistleblower came forward and exposed the scam, which authorities believe amounted to $300 per day.
Brenda Watts pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $120,000 over a five year period on Friday
Position of trust: Brenda Watts, former cafeteria manager at North Spring High School in Fulton County, is alleged to have taken around $300 a day for at least five years from payments made for food
That amounts to $1,500 a week and potentially more than $50,000 a year.
‘I saw wrongdoing, so I reported it,’ Beth Walsh, a former cafeteria worker at the school, told Channel 2.
Walsh said she became suspicious after discovering that a cash only register manned by Watts didn’t have any electronic records to process sales.
Watts was arrested in January 2014 on theft charges
She later provided detectives with surveillance video that showed Watts bypassing four electronically monitored food cart lines designed to register all sales, instead pocketing the cash before it could be recorded.
According to Channel 2, the judge presiding over the case ordered Watts to repay the money she stole but was spared from having to serve any jail time.
Walsh said that the unmonitored cash only line had been in operation for more than 15 years, meaning Watts’ lucrative scam could have potentially reached sums totaling more than a million dollars.
Walsh believes she was fired for exposing the wrongdoing. She later filed a lawsuit against the Fulton County School System and accepted a $50,000 settlement before taking the litigation to court.
The school district said in a statement that the incident has led them to instituting tougher procedures regarding inventory control and new training for all employees.
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