A former financial director at a private school in North Miami Beach was arrested for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from the school and spending it at a casino.
Jennifer Tirado, the former financial director for Scheck Hillel Community School, a private Jewish school in North Miami Beach, allegedly stole $245,465.28 through 33 fraud transfers, authorities said.
The alleged crimes began in February 2020.
Tirado “sent 28 electronic transfers of school funds into her own accounts and five into accounts of a business, and most of that money was then transmitted into her accounts," an arrest warrant stated.
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In a span of three weeks, Tirado allegedly transferred over $53,000 – the value of five months of her take-home wages.
The arrest warrant stated Tirado’s staff noticed money was being transferred into the wrong bank accounts, despite them being labeled using legitimate vendors. When staff presented the errors to Tirado, who was their supervisor, she was “very dismissive and assured … she would take care of the errors, and they had nothing to worry about.”
As time went on, the staff members noticed the problems were not being corrected so they reported the errors to another administrator. The administrator reported the crimes to police.
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Police discovered Tirado transferred money into three separate accounts associated with her. In a month span, one account balance rose from $17 to over $53,000. Police also noticed there was an expense of $28,000 at the Coconut Creek Seminole Casino.
Tirado was fired in November 2021, according to a warrant. Police arrested Tirado this week. She faces charges of organized fraud and first-degree grand theft, online records said. Attorney information was not available.
The Head of School Rabbi Ari Leubitz told NBC6 for the sake of the investigation, the school was asked by police to not share information. However, Tirado was fired in 2021 and the school shared details with parents about transparency.
“We have already been covered in full by our insurance company and have been made whole financially," Rabbi Leubitz said. "We have taken measures to further strengthen our financial controls to prevent a breach like this from ever happening again."
