Two former school lunch ladies in charge of overseeing cafeterias at two separate schools in the town of New Canaan, Connecticut, are accused of conning the town’s school system out of nearly $500,000.
Authorities arrested sisters Joanne Pascarelli, 61, of Stratford, and Marie Wilson, 67, of Wilton, this weekend and charged them with first-degree larceny and defrauding a public community for allegedly stealing $478,588 between 2012 and 2017, the CT Post reported.
The two ladies had warrants out for their arrest and both turned themselves into the New Canaan Police Department over the weekend.
Investigators said the two carried out a scam where they reportedly took money from the cafeteria cash registers over 15 years, but Connecticut’s statute of limitations law kept investigators from going back further than 2012.
Arrest warrants for the two women state that cashiers did not count the cash in their registers before or after they began working. Wilson and Pascarelli took the cash drawers and counted the money closed doors, according to the warrants.
Employees told investigators that Pascarelli would often drop in between lunch periods and pilfered large bills from the registers. The warrants also stated the suspects told the cashiers to sign blank bank deposit slips.
Authorities say Wilson stole $350,906 from New Canaan High School and Pascarelli pilfered $137,682 from Saxe Middle School.
The sisters each posted a $50,000 bond and have been released from jail. Both are due back in court in late August.
Although other cafeteria workers have landed themselves in hot water for skimming money from cafeteria cash registers, some received no jail time for their crimes.
One cafeteria manager who pleaded guilty to stealing $120,000 from a Georgia school for five years received no jail time but was ordered to repay the money she stole.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.