State issues finding for recovery of $4,888 from Liberty schools

LIBERTY — The state auditor’s office has issued a finding for the recovery of $4,888 from three accounts at Liberty High School.

State Auditor Mary Taylor said Marcie Cohen, while a secretary at the high school, collected the funds, but these were never deposited in the district’s account.

Cohen, 54, of Selma Avenue, was indicted Feb. 22 by a Trumbull County grand jury on two counts of theft in office. She has pleaded innocent. She is free on a $5,000 surety bond and has a pretrial hearing scheduled for April 14 before Judge Peter Kontos of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

She had been placed on administrative leave April 19. Superintendent Mark Lucas said Cohen has since left district employment.

A special audit released Thursday found that Cohen was responsible for collecting the Pennies for Patients fundraiser proceeds, transcript fees and prom ticket sales profits.

The audit showed that $370 was taken from the fundraiser, $964 in transcript fees and $3,554 in prom tickets.

Taylor said the money should be repaid to the school district.

The auditor also noted that the district should comply with the state’s timely deposits requirement law and consistently use fundraising financial reports. In addition, the auditor recommended increasing oversight and documentation of funds collected by the district.

Lucas said that changes have been made in the accountability of funds, so the loss of funds doesn’t occur again.