Woman charged for embezzling from booster club
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on August 22, 2017 10:26 PM
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Sandra Dawn Petersen
The former president and treasurer of Charles B. Aycock High School's Music Boosters Association is facing felony charges after turning herself in Tuesday for allegedly embezzling thousands of dollars from the club during her tenure.
Sandra Dawn Petersen, 40, of 103 Melrose Place, Pikeville, is charged with three counts of felony embezzlement.
Petersen walked into the magistrate's office shortly after 4 p.m. alongside her attorney, Geoff Hulse.
Hulse said Petersen did not have anything to say.
Detective Lt. Tom Flores, who investigated the case, said Petersen admitted to the embezzlement during an interview.
Flores said the start of Petersen converting association funds into money for personal use can be traced back to 2014.
He said Petersen was making purchases at local stores with the association's debit card and eventually progressed to taking the debit card and withdrawing cash from ATMs.
Petersen was allegedly spending association funds when the school band was not doing anything.
A new board for the association was put into office in May, said current board president Brien Bauguess.
Bauguess declined to comment on what prompted the election of the new board, saying that was a matter of internal affairs.
The misappropriation of the association's funds came to light, Bauguess said, when the current board began auditing the organization's finances.
"They (the new board) had a hard time getting the records, because (Petersen) -- she wasn't giving up the records," Flores said. "She kept coming up with excuses. I think finally, the board members went to (the bank) and went 'Look, we've been voted in,' and they showed the minutes and showed they're the ones in charge now, and that they want the records for that account because they're now the legitimate officers. That's when the stuff was turned over to them."
A sheriff's office report said when the new board of the association took over, they discovered more than $10,000 was missing from the club's funds.
The board then gave Petersen an opportunity to pay the money back.
"It seemed the right thing to do at the time, to give her the opportunity to repay the funds versus criminal action," Bauguess said.
The report said Petersen attended a board meeting on June 27 to discuss the missing funds with the new board and signed an agreement the following day to pay $10,000 back to the club.
Petersen paid $1,300 in cash back to the club the day she signed the agreement on June 28 and was given 30 days to pay the remaining amount back in full, the report said.
When that deadline came, she asked for two more weeks to pay the remaining amount.
Petersen then brought an envelope to the Charles B. Aycock High School's office on Aug. 9 and gave it to an assistant principal, according to the report.
The report said when the band director opened the envelope in the presence of the school principal, it contained two Western Union money orders for $500 each.
On Aug. 14, the current board reported the embezzlement to the sheriff's office and provided all the documentation it had associated with the alleged crime.
Bauguess said the decision to take the issue to law enforcement was made when Petersen violated the agreement she signed.
The report said the board believes $16,722 total was embezzled from the club.
Bauguess said the current membership of the association has been notified of the misappropriation of the organization's funds.
Now, he said, the board will follow the process of the legal system to try and recoup the missing funds.
Petersen was given a $15,000 unsecured bond on the charges.