NORTH ADAMS -- An ongoing case concerning fraudulent use of up to $40,000 in school district funds by two former employees saw partial resolution at Northern Berkshire District Court on Friday, as Donna M. Burdick admitted to sufficient facts on a charge of larceny over $250.
Burdick, 57, of South County Road, Drury, was an employee of Northern Berkshire School Union for over 20 years when she and another school union employee, Carole A. Fryc, 71, of Arnold Place North Adams, were terminated after an investigation into the alleged larcenies turned up irregular findings in several office accounts.
As a result of Friday's plea, Burdick paid $11,272 in restitution to the court and was given probation until July 12, 2013. The case was continued without a finding until that date.
Having paid the entire restitution sum, and without further legal troubles during the established probation period, Burdick's case is resolved.
Fryc, who is also charged with larceny over $250, appeared in court Friday and had her case continued out to July 23.
The charges stem from 2004 to 2011 -- the period investigated by Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit -- when the pair allegedly used the school union's Walmart and Staples credit cards for unauthoritized purchases.
These purchases allegedly included gift cards, gas cards, cordless phones, mini-book computers, snacks, pet food and personal care items, among other
The alleged thefts were discovered after former Clarksburg Selectmen's Chairwoman Debora LeFave requested invoices from the school union's Staples credit card account. LeFave then requested passwords to the school union's Staples and Walmart accounts, suspecting invoices received by the town were forged, whereupon Fryc and Burdick admitted to school union Superintendent Jonathan Lev that they had misused between $2,000 and $4,000 between the two accounts. Police reports state Fryc possessed school union credit cards for both Staples and Walmart.
The total sum of questioned expenses was $7,643.55 for the school union's Walmart account and $19,144.18 for the Staples account. However, Lev, who became Superintendent of the district in 2009, stated in previous interviews that fraudulent expenditures between the two accounts could exceed $40,000.
To reach Phil Demers,
email pdemers@thetranscript.com.
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