Former Radford City Public Schools Food Service Director Lenora Williams stole over $250,000 from the system over a 10-year period before dying in late October 2017, according to the city’s commonwealth attorney.
Prosecutor Chris Rehak sent out a news release Monday morning outlining the investigation by Virginia State Police that began almost immediately after Williams’ death.
“It suddenly became evident taxpayer money had been used to make hundreds of unauthorized purchases from an account controlled and supervised by Williams,” he wrote.
Rehak wrote that the investigation revealed the amount stolen since 2007 totaled $261,295.24.
The funds diverted to the account that Williams opened include: $173,366.74 in unapproved debit card charges, $11,804.84 in unapproved checks and $76,123.66 missing from cafeteria money deposits.
Rehak wrote that debit card receipts show expenses she incurred at “Amazon, Wal-Mart, Kroger, restaurants, gasoline, resorts and even payments for Radford City utilities and taxes.”
“Embezzlement methods involved falsified audit reports, money taken from student meal plan accounts and inflated numbers for the free and reduced lunch program,” he wrote.
Rehak also stated that the “decade-long systematic theft” had “another unfortunate twist,” that the whole thing was preventable.
“On top of negligent record management, lackadaisical security measures and careless accounting efforts, the more troubling part of this saga may rest in a disregarded warning,” he wrote.
Rehak stated that in 2010, “several school administrators” had a meeting with cafeteria staff and learned that “Williams might be mismanaging money and engaging in improper spending habits.” He credits one cafeteria employee for stepping up to “blow the whistle.”
“Officials dismissed the concern and failed to contact law enforcement. Unfortunately, most embezzlement appears to have occurred in the seven years since the meeting,” Rehak wrote.
Superintendent Robert Graham told the News Messenger that in the summer of 2010, when he was the principal at McHarg Elementary School, he had a meeting with disgruntled cafeteria staff who suggested nepotism because Williams’ daughter Elizabeth “Libby” Williams-Price worked for her and that this meeting had nothing to do with misappropriation of funds.
He said that he agreed with the staff that Williams-Price shouldn’t be working under her mother and was reassigned as an instructional aide.
She is now Graham’s assistant, and according to the release, was cleared of any wrongdoing like other employees who were questioned throughout the investigation.
RCPS sent out a prepared statement Monday that also refuted some of Rehak’s assertions, including that a 2010 money-mismanagement meeting took place.
“Prior to October 2017, the facts relating to the cafeteria fund theft were never identified or reported to administration or the School Board,” it read. “The school division’s accounts and funds were audited annually, as required by law, and the annual audits did not identify the theft or irregularities.”
The statement continued:
“Contrary to the expressed opinion of the Commonwealth’s Attorney in his media statement, prior to October 2017, administration was unaware of any reliable and verifiable facts that either established or proved that any former employee was embezzling cafeteria funds in the manner discovered in the post- October 2017 investigation, or that would have warranted a referral to law enforcement.”
Graham said that since the investigation began, RCPS has taken measures to minimize the risk of embezzlement taking place again in the future.
“The new food service director, the CFO and myself all sign off on any bills,” he said.
He said that school system now has all of its money going directly to the city except for one account that is used primarily for travel expenses.
Additionally, the system has gotten rid of all but two of its credit cards—one at the high school and one at the school board office.
Graham also stressed the point that no child went hungry due to the thefts. RCPS’s statement said that the division anticipates that most of the funds will likely be covered by the division’s insurer, but Graham said it is not a done deal yet and the system has not received a decision from the insurance company.
“On the advice of the Board’s auditor, administration also contacted the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Inspector General to discuss whether and to what extent the former employee may have appropriated for personal use free and reduced lunch funds provided by the federal government,” the RCPS statement read.
The release also touched on why the division had yet to make a public statement regarding the theft.
“During the pendency of the Virginia State Police investigation, which lasted several months, the lead investigator directed administration and the School Board to avoid any public comment on the investigation and identified loss, advising that any public comment would potentially interfere with an effective criminal investigation. Administration and the School Board, after consultation with the School Board’s legal counsel, fully complied with the directives of the investigating officer,” it read.
Graham said that the school system was planning to put out a release once the insurer made a ruling on whether or not losses could be recouped. He said it is up to the insurer whether it sues the Williams estate to recoup some of the losses.
Williams began working for the school system in 1988 as a cafeteria worker and worked her way up through multiple positions before being named director of food service in July 2011.
Graham and Mayor Bruce Brown said that they were not aware that Rehak would be releasing information on the investigation Monday and Graham said that he had to go get a copy of the release from Rehak’s office.
Brown briefly discussed the ordeal at Tuesday’s regularly scheduled city council meeting.
Citizen Kathryn Daily asked questions concerning the embezzlement case during the public hearing portion of the meeting.
Brown shared that the public comment time was for the council to listen and receive guidance from citizens and that the case was currently a school board matter.
Daily also suggested a third-party audit of all city offices. Brown responded that there are provisions in place for that and that the controls in place did find the embezzlement. However, he said an audit as she suggested is an option that will be considered.
Brown also touched on the school system embezzlement case at the end of the open portion of the meeting.
“Today has been a tough day in the city,” he said.
He stated that the school board had made the city council aware of the investigation last November and the council respected the due process that took place with the state police investigation.
He assured the audience that “we take fiduciary responsibility seriously and we will take the steps necessary to protect the interests (of the city).”
He added that there are rights and responsibilities that the council must abide by in such matters.
“There is a role that council plays in terms of transparency and accountability, and we take those duties seriously,” he said.
Rehak wrote in his statement that it was his civic responsibility to release the information to the public.
“I am duty-bound to share this information and citizens have a right to know that this happened on my watch,” he said. “I also share the responsibility to protect public money and would have prosecuted these crimes.”
Steve Frey contributed to this story.
