News
March 7, 2008
Ex-PTO mom pleads guilty to embezzling more than $10,000

WINFIELD - The former president of a Putnam County parent-teacher organization pleaded guilty Thursday to embezzling more than $10,000 from an account meant for playground equipment and a school carnival.

Dawn R. Compton, 42, admitted in Putnam Circuit Court that between August 2006 and July 2007, she had taken $10,338.07 from the West Teays Elementary School PTO to buy items for herself.

Lawrence Pierce
Dawn Compton, who pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $10,000 from the West Teays Elementary parent-teacher organization, consults with her lawyer, David Moye, in Putnam Circuit Court on Thursday.
"The books were in my hands the majority of the time," she told Putnam Circuit Judge O.C. Spaulding.

Compton's plea was part of a deal with prosecutors. She will also have to pay back the money.

At her hearing, she wrote out a $3,000 check to the PTO. Her lawyer, David Moye, said he would mail the check to the PTO today.

Compton told the judge she would be able to pay back the rest of the money by the end of August.

"She and her husband are working together to withdraw it from his 401(k) plan," Moye said.

Students at the elementary school missed out on new playground equipment, a year-end carnival, and other activities because of Compton's dishonesty, PTO vice president Jennifer Johnson told the Gazette. One of Compton's children attends the school, she said.

"Taking money from these children - that's just sad," Johnson said. "I can't tell you how many volunteer hours I put in to raise that much money."

PTO officers started getting suspicious last spring, she said. Usually, the checking account had a healthy balance of tens of thousands of dollars.

"We started receiving collection notices and bills that had not been paid, and there was no money to be found," she said. "We didn't have a penny."

Compton had complete control of the finances, Johnson said.

"She would not let anyone touch the checkbook," she said. "Even the treasurer."

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