ROCKLAND — A woman from Owls Head who pleaded guilty to felony theft in June 2017 of taking more than $8,000 from the graduation fund for the Class of 2018 at Oceanside High School is now serving seven days in jail.    

Brenda Carty, 52, first appeared in Knox County Unified Court June 26, 2017. At the hearing, a deferred disposition agreement was reached between Carty and the District Attorney’s Office.

The agreement stipulated that if Carty met the terms of the deferred disposition over the next year, the felony theft count would be changed to a Class D misdemeanor theft charge. She would then be sentenced in 2018 to 364 days in jail with all but seven days suspended and serve one year of probation. 

Carty met the terms of the deferred disposition agreement during the past year and was sentenced June 28 to seven days in jail and one year of probation during a hearing in Knox County Unified Court. 

The conditions of the deferred disposition agreement reached in 2017 also included that Carty would pay $548 in restitution, perform 200 hours of community service, not participate in the financial management of any charitable fundraising organization, complete the Restorative Justice Program and pay a monthly $10 administrative fee. 

If Carty was unsuccessful with meeting these conditions during the year, then she would have been subject to open sentencing for felony theft June 28.  

According to the police affidavit filed by Rockland Detective Joel Neal, parents of the 2018 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 have been 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 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. 

Reach Sarah Shepherd at news@penbaypilot.com