An Arizona mother is accused of committing a horrific violation at her children’s school.
According to Scottsdale police, Nubia Gonzalez, who has four children in a city school, stole more than $35,000 from the Cocopah Association of Parents and Teachers, an organization that raises money for school activities, field trips and other activities at Cocopah Middle School.
She was elected treasurer of the APT in April and was a beloved mother who regularly volunteered in her children’s classrooms, Fox 19 reports.
But she has since disappeared without a trace, accused of defrauding the school so she could transfer the volunteer group’s money to her personal account.
Gonzalez was even caught on camera depositing the stolen money into her bank account before disappearing, locking her phones and social media accounts.
Arizona police are searching for Nubia Gonzalez, a mother of four accused of stealing more than $35,000 from her children’s high school
According to police, shortly after being elected treasurer of the APT, the mother of four began withdrawing money that had been transferred to the association.
The association’s chairman returned home from a trip on July 2 to find the account empty. according to KTAR.
The bank subsequently informed the president that multiple cash withdrawals totaling $36,500 had been made between June 28 and July 1.
Officers later discovered that Gonzalez had used false documents and a false home address when logging into the bank accounts, but when officers went to question her, she had disappeared.
‘It was a false address that she gave, not only to the police, [Scottsdale Unified School District]everybody,” Scottsdale Police Sgt. Allison Sempsis told Fox 19. “So we don’t know where they were living at the time.”
Several parents, school employees and police officers have since attempted to contact Gonzalez, but her phone numbers are no longer in service, KTAR reports.
Gonzalez was caught on surveillance footage depositing the stolen money into her personal bank accounts
Police now suspect Gonzalez planned to steal the money once she was elected.
“That was her only intention. In April she became treasurer and as soon as she got access to bank accounts, she emptied them.”
Many parents of children in the high school have since expressed shock and outrage over the mother’s alleged actions.
“I have a background in finance and accounting and I can’t believe that someone would do something like this, knowing that they were taking this kind of money from children,” said Rebecca Ryerson.
Tanya Roberts, another mother, called Gonzalez’s alleged actions “devastating.”
Parents are now worried about how they will recoup the large sum of money and are praying that families will realize the importance of investing in their children’s education as the school year begins.
“I want people to feel like the community we’ve built is just as strong as it was 30 days ago, before we knew about this event,” Ryerson said.
“I hope they see our community in Cocopah and support our fall fundraiser.”
Parents and administrators at Cocopah Middle School are now concerned they may not be able to get the funds back
In a statement to parents, Scottsdale Unified School District officials also said they were “disappointed to learn of the alleged theft involving the treasurer of Cocopah Middle School APT.
“It is disheartening to think that anyone would take advantage of the hard work and dedication of our parent groups.
“Our APTs, PTOs and Booster Clubs operate as separate nonprofit organizations and we greatly appreciate their tireless efforts to support our students, staff and schools,” district officials continued.
“The primary goal of these groups is to enhance the educational experience for our students. We are grateful for their continued efforts.
“We want to assure our community that this incident does not reflect the values and integrity of our many volunteers and community partners.
“We hope that this unfortunate situation will not deter our committed community from continuing to help and support their children.”