Search warrant seeks Barbara Webster Parent Group records
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Published: May 05, 2006
A search warrant was served on a Santa Paula Elementary School District principal in connection with funds missing from a parents’ booster club, according to a Santa Paula Police Department spokesman.
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula Times
A search warrant was served on a Santa Paula Elementary School District principal in connection with funds missing from a parents’ booster club, according to a Santa Paula Police Department spokesman. The warrant was served April 25 at the home of Marisela Favila, who in March was reassigned to the classroom after serving as the principal of Barbara Webster School from November 2004 to July 2005.
SPESD Trustees took the action after it was learned that there were account discrepancies for the Friends of Barbara Webster Parent Group, which could be missing as much as $8,000. Favila had reportedly cancelled a bookkeeping service that had been taking care of the account when she became the school’s principal.
Late last year, the school district was notified by a candy supplier that it was owed more than $11,000 from fundraisers held the previous year. An internal investigation revealed that a duplicate check copy had not cleared the bank, and that there were numerous returned deposit items reportedly related to the prior year’s fundraising made in November. Although Favila offered to cover the amount of the returned items, an investigation was launched.
Trustees ordered an audit conducted by a consultant, and “Overall, we were able to determine that accounting and record keeping for the Booster Club lacked adequate management and internal control,” according to the report. “As a result, the financial transactions were at risk of misappropriation. The unusual transactions of the Booster Club... appear to be due to the lack of adequate knowledge of accounting control rather than from fraudulent activity. However, because part of the methodology of any fraudulent activity is to conceal its existence, we do not offer an opinion as to whether or not it exists.”
Favila, when interviewed by the consultant conducting the audit, said that she had not been trained in the appropriate application of controls or the proper treatment of financial transactions. The search of Favila’s home was the result of the ongoing investigation into the Friends of Barbara Webster and two recent audits of the group’s finances, according to a SPPD spokesman.
The warrant was based on Favila’s oversight of the overall finances and the subsequent focus on a shortfall of the group’s funds, as well as the Friends of Barbara Webster’s ability to adequately pay the outstanding bills from last year. The warrant specified documents pertaining to the Friends of Barbara Webster and any evidence of misappropriation of funds, according to the SPPD spokesman.
Favila and her husband were present at their home during the almost three hour search, and were “very cooperative” with SPPD investigators. Det. David Lusk is the lead investigator, and the evidence seized in the search and the information from the audits will be carefully reviewed and a complete analysis forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office for review.
If there are any questions regarding the case, Det. Lusk, Det. Michelle Velasco or Sgt. Carlos Juarez can be contacted at 525-4474.
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