Sheriff’s deputies issued Stephanie Olmsted a citation with a court date for felony embezzlement. She is accused of embezzling money during her nearly 18 months as treasurer of the Panther Club.
“She had access to the money because of her position as treasurer,” said Sheriff’s Detective Jake Ainsworth. “And she had the ability to write checks and collect excess cash generated through fundraisers.”
Ainsworth said the embezzlement likely started in late 2010 and that Olmsted was acting alone. She was removed as treasurer in July 2011, apparently after questions arose about the funds raised by the club.
“There is an ongoing investigation right now,” said middle school principal Jeff Calden in December. “The parent club brought information to the school, we presented it to the district office and they contacted the Sheriff’s Office.”
Olmsted is scheduled to appear in court in early February.
Ainsworth and Sgt. Jim Ross noted the sensitivity of this case due to the nature of the school fundraising in difficult economic times and that Olmsted has children in the district.
Ross noted that Panther Club is completely separate from San Lorenzo Valley High School’s Booster Club, the main fundraising arm for the high school.
The mountain dream and SLVGS are non profits who have their books audited every year. Know the facts first.
Meesus
Be a responsible paper and stop this slander.
The Santa Cruz Sentinal is a responsible paper allowing free speech along as you included a verifiable name.
Do the right thing
What it does give you is the opportunity to post with your real name.
Oh wait. So does the Press Banner.
And, a quick question. If anonymous posting is such a terrible, irresponsible, slanderous concept.....why do you do it?
Adults:Please don't pretend you are all shocked.If you are human, you'll make mistakes. Of course it was wrong-YES IT WAS. Can't change that. She does deserve the chance to redeem herself. Are you all so self righteous? I would hate to see you mess up someday and be subject to not only slander but disingenuous people who use to call themselves your friends. How selfish to think that your mean comments matter to anyone. All they do is add to an already negative society. it doesn't matter if you know Stepanie or not-BE KIND!
In answer to your question: no, I am not perfect. However, I have never, EVER been accused of stealing $9000 from a middle school parent club...or $100, or $50, or $20, or one thin dime.
Thanks for the comment, Volunteer MOM. That's the funniest thing I've read all week.
Please. I also spoke to someone who said that Stephanie did it, and they know for a fact she did because they were part of the group that turned the information over to the district office.
Don't stop belieeeeeevin, hold on to that feeeeelin...
Though I am not religious, a few other things not covered here come to mind:
Judge not lest ye be judged.
Let he without sin cast the first stone.
You are "looking forward to a court date"? You make me sick. You have way to much extra time in your life to be looking forward to something like this. Get a life.
The kids are reading all of this, yours and theirs. Welcome to the age of the smartphone. How about all you folks try and set an example here. They are watching. And learning.
1. Stealing is a crime.
2. Even "nice" people can make bad decisions, and they will be held accountable for those decisions.
3. If you commit a crime against your community, you will be scorned by the community which you committed the crime against.
4. There is never a good reason to steal money, and if you do, your name will be put into the paper, everyone will know about it, your kids will be embarrased, your family will be a shamed and people will think less of you, maybe for a short time, maybe for a long time, maybe forever, but they will not forget very soon.
5.If you don't want to be gossiped about, don't steal. And don't steal from a school, or children, or anyplace where people know your name. Because your name will be ruined, and it won't be anyone else's fault.
Is that what they're learning, because that's what our daughter learned, and she looked us in the eye and promised she would NEVER STEAL ANYTHING EVER becuase she didn't want to be talked about like this. If this keeps one kid from stealing--especially if it's my kid--then I'm glad she learned something.
Have you heard of the words compassion,understanding,empathy,apparently not.We have a justice system based on the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.You seem to have appointed yourself judge and jury, thank goodness this is just in your mind.I do believe in justice,I do believe in our community as a whole.The truth will reveal itself in time and while I wait for that moment to come I reject your principles of life utilizing scorn,shame,and embarrassment.
On another note: Shame on the Valley Press for releasing this story four days before school started. If they had been sitting on it for months then why choose to publish when they did. Other then to hurt the kids. Middle school is hell enough and the press does not need to add to the stress.
As much as some of us want to believe this person is guilty, that has not yet been proven.
Money is missing. Person handling it was arrested.
Those are the facts.
Your unfounded accusations about knowing who wrote the anonymous letters and eluding to "her" skeletons shows that you are only pretending to take the high road. Hypocrisy. Look it up.
I would hope that any community would set a standard that stealing is not okay. I don't care if you're living in your car (she wasn't), standing in the soup line (nope, not that either) or needing to pay for your kids' heart transplant (I'm guessing not...) there are other ways to fundraise than stealing from your neighbors and their children. If you do choose to steal from your neighbors, you should expect them to be pissed and have an opinion on the matter.
For those who are rallying for your friend, can't you support her and her family without vilifying the people who are having a very justified and natural reaction to being duped and victimized? These people have every right to be angry.
To those who excuse her behavior or minimize it by suggesting she was "desperate" or made a simple mistake...what an insult to those who struggle in this economy and manage not to become thieves. Being "good" includes doing the right thing when you think nobody is looking. Statistically, embezzlers are more often women, median age mid 40's, and unlike what we'd like to BELIEVE, the reason is usually not because they are in financial dire straights. It's more to support lavish lifestyles that they cannot otherwise afford. I don't know the family, but I do know how expensive extracurricular sports are so they couldn't be THAT desperate to be able to afford participating in them. If I were desperate, I'd have no choice but to pull my kids out of the sports...because stealing wouldn't be an option.
I'll bet my next three paychecks (which won't be anywhere near 9,000 bucks but I will have actually earned them) that she ultimately pleads guilty and takes probation rather than risk a jury trial and jail. Just a hunch...
If Stephanie was supposedly so "desperate," how did she afford the trip to the Ellen show?
There are checks and balances in place. I believe sometimes they get swept under the rug due to lack of time due to lack of help due to lack of volunteers. Unfortunate but true.
We have an awesome tri-campus, let's continue to build on it!
No, I didn't write any letters. I only joined the middle school campus this year, and knew nothing about any of this until the story hit the paper last week.
But if I had been involved with the Panther Club when the money started to go missing, I would have worked very hard to make sure that whoever took the money was held accountable, no matter who it was. You may remember a case of embezzlement that happened in our Valley back in 2005. The Executive Director of the Children's Center of San Lorenzo Valley was found to be stealing money and supplies from the Center, and after spending several weeks compiling evidence and following a paper trail of hell, another board member and I went to the Sheriff's Office, filed a report and watched the attending officer complete an arrest warrant for the Director. That was absolutely one of the worst things I've ever endured--knowing that someone who was loved and trusted by so many in our community could be stealing from us. The feeling of deception and betrayal was awful, and 60 families were impacted deeply by the loss--not just of the money, but of the trust, too. At that time, the entire CCSLV Board of Directors was vilified by some families and staff at the Center, and as hard as it was to have our decision scrutinized, we knew we were doing the right thing.
So, having been through an embezzlement before, would I bring any findings to light immediately? Absolutely. And you're right--Stephanie wasn't arrested, and I don’t know how that decision was made. When the above-referenced Director was arrested at her home—in front of her children—she was charged with embezzlement, grand theft and forgery. Perhaps a solo charge of embezzlement only requires a citation, not an arrest. If so, then Stephanie and her family were lucky in that sense, as an at-home arrest can be far more disturbing. What I can tell you, though, is that the Sheriff’s Office isn’t capricious in their actions. You have to present a lot of detailed evidence—a paper trail of forged checks or altered bank statements or whatever you have—in order to get the SO to move on the case. And they don’t do the investigation for you. The complainant has to be very, VERY clear in their findings before the SO will take a report. Based on that knowledge alone, I feel it’s pretty likely that they had enough evidence to cite Stephanie.
The hard part, of course, is that it’s Stephanie. It’s someone that is well-known in the Valley, someone who has volunteered for SLVGS and SLVLL, someone who has volunteered in the schools. As someone mentioned in an earlier post, that’s where the shock comes from. This would be much easier if it was someone that had questionable character. Betrayal is one thing, but betrayal by someone you trust—and someone who is so clearly loved by so many—is doubly hard to take.
So before you try to call out the people who wrote the letters, think about why you’re doing that. I can see that your friendship with Stephanie is a deep one, and I’m glad she has friends like you that will support her through this, but the people who wrote the letters should not be condemned for their actions. If anything, they are probably conflicted. And those posters who share their feelings of betrayal on this story shouldn’t be condemned either. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if it doesn’t align with yours.
AMEN SISTER!
Regardless of the outcome of this particular case, I hope all SLV schools take steps to improve the financial security of the parent clubs' funds. I have worked as a volunteer on several occasions in the past 15 years, and always was astonished at how easy it would be for someone to pocket some cash if they were so inclined.
When you allow post with out a a real name or real email address people will say anything this is not freedom of the press it is slander harassment and real papers like the sentinel have cleaned up there blogs
Cowards
Many Sentinel posters use a fake facebook page or other options that allow them to post anonymously.
I think that a forum like this is a great way for people to express their opinions. If you disagree with something you can ignore it. Also, the PB is very good at removing comments that are blatant harassment, lies or otherwise unsavory.
And please note Mr "Cowards", you posted anonymously as well.