The Turkeyfoot Valley Area School District is one of two Somerset County school districts whose checks were stolen and forged in a statewide fraud ring, according to charges announced Friday, September 18, by Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday.
The attorney general’s Organized Crime Section, working with the Pennsylvania State Police, charged 14 people in the scheme. Investigators say the group attempted to steal more than $1 million and walked away with an estimated $170,000. Berlin Brothersvalley School District was the other Somerset County district named as a victim.
HOW IT ALLEGEDLY WORKED
According to the attorney general’s office, the group got its hands on checks three ways: by recruiting people to steal them, by buying blank checks from other criminals, and by tampering with mail delivery. The checks were then forged or altered and deposited or cashed at 10 or more banks and financial institutions.
Prosecutors identified Savannah Sperduto of Philadelphia as the leader of the organization. She was arraigned and held on $50,000 cash bail. Thirteen co-defendants from across Pennsylvania face the same slate of charges: corrupt organizations, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity, forgery, theft, identity theft and related offenses.
Businesses across Pennsylvania and victims in other states were also targeted. The attorney general’s office stressed that the school districts, businesses and individuals whose checks were taken had no role in the conspiracy.
“This alleged scheme targeted businesses, school districts, and other unsuspecting victims across the Commonwealth for high-dollar thefts,” Sunday said in a statement.
Senior Deputy Attorney General Brittney Kern and Deputy Attorney General Jenna Strausbaugh are prosecuting. All 14 defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
WHAT WE DON’T KNOW YET
The attorney general’s announcement does not say how much money, if any, was taken from Turkeyfoot Valley or Berlin Brothersvalley, when the thefts happened, or whether any of the districts’ checks were intercepted in the mail here in the valley.
A WORD ABOUT YOUR MAILBOX
Mail theft is how a lot of check fraud starts. A few habits help: drop outgoing checks inside the post office rather than leaving them in a roadside box with the flag up, pick up your mail promptly, and watch your bank statements for checks you did not write or amounts that do not match. Online bill pay takes the paper out of the equation altogether.