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The president of an Iredell County elementary school's PTO has been charged with embezzling money over a period of several months, the Iredell County Sheriff's Office says.
Anary Morrison Bellamy, 28, of Statesville, was charged with 16 counts of embezzlement and four felony counts of forgery, according to Sheriff Phillip Redmond.
She has been president of the PTO at the school, on Old Mountain Road southwest of Statesville, since last year.
Redmond said the school's principal, Steven Sheets, and several members of the PTO board discovered earlier this month that the signature of the PTO's treasurer had been forged on four checks written in October, made payable to Bellamy. The sheriff said school officials then began checking PTO records and found several other cases in which checks were written to Bellamy, without the PTO president supplying any receipts or other reasons why she was due the money.
“The exact dollar amount may never be nailed down to the penny, but in excess of $5,000 is believed to have been embezzled since the middle of last school year,” the sheriff said.
He said school officials have taken steps to insure that no additional money is removed from the PTO's bank account.
