Published: 01 September 2010
A former central office employee at the Cherokee County School District faces several felony charges in regard to credit card fraud and theft, and a criminal investigation by school police is ongoing, according to District Director of Communications Mike McGowan.
Teresa Bowen, 43, of Canton, who was the supervisor of purchasing for CCSD, resigned Aug. 26, and was arrested by Cherokee County School District Police Aug. 27 on four counts of felony financial transaction card fraud, three counts of felony theft by taking (more than $500), one count of misdemeanor theft by taking and one count of felony theft by conversion, McGowan said.
Bowen bonded out of the Cherokee County jail the same day she was arrested; her bail was set at $60,000, said Lt. Jay Baker, public information officer for the sheriff’s office.
“After receiving allegations of misconduct regarding a school district employee, the superintendent of schools (Dr. Frank Petruzielo) authorized an internal administrative inquiry on Aug. 17,” McGowan said. “Based on information acquired, (Petruzielo) subsequently authorized an internal administrative investigation on Aug. 23.”
McGowan said that investigation led to the need for a criminal investigation by the school police.
On the central office organizational chart, Bowen is listed under the department of support services and facilities construction management. According to the incident report, School Police Chief Mark Kissel, during the administrative investigation, found purchasing irregularities involving two credit card accounts belonging to the Cherokee County Board of Education: a MasterCard account and a Best Buy account. The first known occurrence of alleged irregularities was April 16, the report said.
Bowen was an authorized user on the accounts, and “it appears that she used these credit cards to make purchases that were not authorized, and they appeared to be for personal use,” the report said.
“As this is an ongoing criminal investigation, this will be the school district’s only statement on this matter at this time,” McGowan said.
Ledger-News reporter Jessica Wagner contributed to this article.
