PTA official at Texas elementary school charged with stealing school funds

A PTA vice president and her husband in the Hutto (Texas) school district have been charged with stealing more $14,000 from an elementary school PTA account.

The Austin American-Statesman reports that Natalie Hudson-Rapp, 40, vice president of the Ray Elementary School PTA, and her husband, and Clinton Rapp, 46, have been accused of cashing some $14,700 in unauthorized PTA checks.

Police say Hudson-Rapp had been given the checkbook for the school’s PTA in December 2016 to pay bills and to look after the day-to-day operations of the organization. In June, a local credit union reported suspicious activity on the account.

Investigators determined that Hudson-Rapp and Clinton Rapp had cashed more than 31 checks; none of the checks were for expenditures approved by the elementary school’s PTA board as required. 

Hudson-Rapp told investigators she cashed the checks to reimburse herself for buying classroom items for teachers. But she was not able to show any proof that she had purchased such items.