Harbor Gateway school employee charged with embezzling more than $100,000

"People in charge trusted her representations, that's how she got away with it," Nielsen said.

Castro is set to be arraigned this afternoon or Friday. She was held on $135,000 bail.

She was arrested at her San Pedro home at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Sgt. Leticia Castaneda with the Los Angeles School Police.

Castro is facing nine felony counts: two for misappropriation of public funds; three for embezzlement; and four for forgery. She also faces a special allegation for theft of more than $65,000, Nielsen said.

Her alleged "scheme," he said, was discovered in September 2009, after which time she stopped showing up for work at Halldale Avenue Elementary, a Los Angeles Unified campus.
The school district's Office of the Inspector General investigated the case, finding more than 100 checks that were allegedly made out to Castro, Nielsen said.

The alleged thefts began shortly after Castro was assigned to the school, where she oversaw the imprest account, student body account, and was treasurer of the parent-teacher organization
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"Almost immediately, she began stealing from all three accounts," Nielsen said. "She simply wrote checks to herself and cashed them or deposited them."

The missing funds were discovered by the president of the PTA and reported to Principal Linda Sakurai, who passed the issue on to LAUSD's Office of the Inspector General.