Archives > Plano Star-courier > News
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
PTA mom apologizes for stealing
By Stephanie Flemmons, sflemmons@acnpapers.com
A PTA mom who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $12,000 from the association asks her former fellow PTA members to forgive her.
Wyndi Geren pleaded guilty Thursday morning to stealing funds from Beaty Early Childhood School’s PTA and was placed on five years probation.
Geren said she is grateful she was able to receive probation instead of going to jail and being taken away from her three children.
Geren said despite having a felony conviction she was able to get a job and will use her earnings to pay the restitution.
“Looking back I can’t believe I did that,” she said. “I’ve lost all my friends and my family. This is not how I was raised. I don’t even want my boys to know.”
Geren said when she volunteered for the treasurer position she did not intend to seek monetary gain.
“When I volunteered for the position it was not to steal,” she said. “I never went into the position to be deceitful. It just happened. It was more than a mistake; it was a sin.”
Geren said she overwhelmed herself with duties she thought would help her feel better about herself. She said she was battling depression and didn’t realize it at the time and wanted to do something good for the sake of her children. She said she began stealing money, but intended to replace the money before anyone noticed it was missing.
“My husband was working a 100 percent commission job, and he wasn’t making any money,” she said. “We needed money for rent and to put food on the table. I rationalized it because we get a generous tax refund and I was going to pay it back before they knew what was going on.”
Former Beaty PTA president Terri McFarling said no one in the association believed Geren was stealing, but they realized there were multiple discrepancies in the financial record-keeping books.
“It never even crossed my mind that she was stealing,” McFarling said. “We were trying to help her get her books right. We just thought she was having a difficult time keeping up with her treasurer report.”
Geren began cancelling meetings with PTA members to go over the finances, which raised a red flag. On the third attempt, McFarling said she finally attended.
“We called a meeting and asked her to show us her reports,” McFarling said. “She made it look like the funds weren’t put into the right categories. She was unbelievable at telling us what we wanted to hear.”
PTA members turned to the former treasurer in hopes he could target where the missing funds went. McFarling said at that point Geren admitted to stealing the funds and resigned from her position.
“We gave her many opportunities to pay us back, and she never did,” McFarling said. “We felt like she had committed a crime and she made no attempt on paying it back. We waited on three different occasions where she promised to repay the money. After the last promise of payment, we never heard a word from her.”
After months of failed promises to return the stolen money, Beaty PTA members voted unanimously to pursue criminal charges.
“I think the punishment is steep enough,” McFarling said. “She’s a mother like the rest of us. Good, bad or indifferent, her kids still need her. She’s the only mother they have.”
Geren agreed to the terms of the plea deal offered by the state, which includes 200 hours of community service, a written letter of apology to the Beaty PTA, court costs, crime stopper fees and no contact with the victims.
“What I did was wrong,” Geren said. “I hope someday they can forgive me, but I understand if they can’t.”
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: News «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
