Stealing from School Booster Clubs Who Knew?

Watching the Today Show this morning I saw the newest Rossen Report http://www.today.com/news/parents-steal-thousands-dollars-school-booster-clubs-2D79736779  regarding thefts from booster clubs.  This comes as no surprise to me.  Just this last week down the road from my home an “incredible” volunteer was arrested for stealing from a local school.  http://bit.ly/1kZFpXC

These thefts weren’t discovered during an audit.  What booster club does audits?  Have booster clubs heard of internal controls?  This theft was discovered during a review of a videotape to watch an altercation between students. It was completely stumbled upon.   How long has this been going on?  The school district has no idea.  She has been a volunteer for 8 years.  According to the county sheriff’s spokesperson "She had access to money in a lot of ways," Ray said.

This is so sad especially when our kids and parents work so hard to get their kids involved in awesome school activities.  In these days of budget cuts and mandatory testing there is no money leftover for “extras”.  Kids and parents volunteer their time and give their hard earned money for these clubs. 

Taking a look at Bureau of Labor Statistics women volunteer more than men.  http://www.bls.gov/news.release/volun.t01.htm  That just makes sense to me.  So the next step in that thinking is that women will steal more than men from these types of groups. 

In the Rossen Report they showed a few men but in my anecdotal experience it is more women than men that steal from these organizations.  Many organizations never publicize the “skimming” or thefts because they worry about the bad publicity.  At least once a week I receive a story about another “incredible” volunteer that has stolen from the soccer team, band group or cheerleading squad. 

Cookie dough anyone??