Former treasurer charged

The school's PTA is able to continue its activities with borrowed money.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Police have a filed a felony charge of grand theft against the former treasurer of Davis Elementary School's PTA.
Police had a warrant Thursday to arrest Melissa Crago, 26, 3711 Riblett Road, on the charge, which stems from discrepancies found in an audit of the PTA's financial records.
Crago, reached at home Thursday, said she has been advised by her attorney not to comment on the charge.
PTA president Jannine Zimmerman said Tuesday that on Oct. 11, she caught a discrepancy of about $300 between September's ending balance and October's beginning balance in the account. She notified Judith Bryant, president of the Austintown PTA Council, which has jurisdiction over all the schools' PTAs. Bryant took the books for an audit, froze the account and, after a meeting with Crago Oct. 13, filed a police report Oct. 14, Zimmerman said.
Missing money
Zimmerman said about $2,000 of the PTA's money appears to be missing.
Some of the discrepancies noted in the police report include a $189 check written to a company for kindergarten welcome gifts that was deposited into Crago's own account; two checks written for the same amount for the same items; and a $350 check from a closed account that was deposited into the PTA's account.
Bryant reported to police that there were $1,500 in checks written to Crago or her husband and that eight checks had not cleared the bank.
Crago said Tuesday that she had made mistakes when typing reports and that an old check had accidentally been deposited into the PTA's account. She said the check for the welcoming gifts was put in her own account because she wanted reimbursed. She said she would never have turned in her report if she'd known it was wrong.
The charge against Crago is filed in Mahoning County court in Austintown.
The PTA council has lent the Davis PTA $1,500 to continue funding school activities through the next few months, Zimmerman said.