ROCKLAND — A 52-year old woman from Owls Head, who allegedly stole more than $8,000 from the graduation fund for the Class of 2018 at Oceanside High School, made her initial court appearance Jan. 9 in Knox County Unified Court.

Brenda Carty was charged November 9, 2016 with felony theft by Rockland Police Departments Criminal Investigations Division.

Carty did not enter a plea since this was her first court appearance. She will appear in court again April 27 for a dispositional conference.

According to the police affidavit filed by Detective Joel Neal, parents of the 2018 graduating class decided to begin raising money for their children in October 2013 to offset costs of graduating class events. The only signature on the account was Carty.

Class students and parents had participated in numerous fundraising events over the years, including craft fairs, selling Yankee candles and basketball concessions. When parents began to question Carty about the account balance Carty told them there was only $4,800 in the account, police said. The parents believed there should be much more than that in the account.

Subpoenaed bank records showed numerous ATM withdrawals not connected to the Class of 2018 and numerous purchases, said police.

In July 2016, Neal was first contacted by a parent of a student, who was a member of the 2018 student government for the class, after her daughter had reported to her that when she asked Carty for some of the funds to purchase T-shirts she “got very upset” and said the money was not available. Carty allegedly told the student that the money was invested in a certificate of deposit and could not be cashed in until the class graduation.  

According to the bank records a total of $13,114.73 was deposited in the Class of 2018 account since October 2013. There was a total withdrawal of $13,112.13 leaving a balance of $2.60. There was a total of $4,732.92 in what is believed to be legitimate expenditures by Carty in support of the Class of 2018. There was a total of $5,930.50 in expenditures that had nothing to do with the Class of 2018 and another $2,457.71 in questionable expenditures with no receipts.

Some of the questionable expenditures included ATM cash withdrawals, hotel, car and cell phone expenses and Walmart purchases in Maine and out of state.

Carty is being represented by attorney Justin W. Leary of Auburn.

Reach Sarah Shepherd at news@penbaypilot.com