Former school accountant took law firm’s donation, forged principal’s signature

DALLAS — A former school district chief bookkeeper’s theft of $58,000 over two years included forging a principal’s signature, taking a law firm’s donation and hiding bank statements in her office to cover the thefts, court records showed.

Julie Taylor pleaded guilty last week to six counts of theft by taking from five schools between October 2014 and July 2015.

District officials conducted a forensic audit and internal review after her 2015 arrest which showed Taylor had taken a total of $58,432 in checks and deposits of money from five schools, according to details in the Paulding Superior Court plea agreement from the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia.

Taylor was the Paulding County Board of Education’s chief accountant in 2014 and 2015. Her duties included training school accountants and substituting for them when they were on vacation or otherwise absent.

All of the missing, partial and stolen deposits corresponded to deposits made into Taylor’s personal account. She consented to a search of her home and property. A boat was seized on Aug. 21, 2015, and more than $10,000 from its sale was used to defer some of her liability which totaled more than $73,000. She also paid some money back before her firing and arrest, records stated

Last week, she entered a plea agreement and Paulding Superior Court Judge Dean Bucci on June 5 sentenced Taylor to 40 years with 10 years in prison.

Her prison sentence was suspended on several conditions including that she serve nine months in a detention center and pay back over $60,000 in restitution. Following last week’s plea, she made a payment of $60,085 in a certified check to Paulding Superior Court, said Pete Skandalakis of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia.