Teacher, clerk charged in Putnam theft scandal

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - A former teacher and another school employee are facing criminal charges, for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from the Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical High School .

On Friday, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced charges against former teacher Ann Berry and senior clerk typist Sherry Suber. According to Coakley, the two stole a total of more than $30,000 from the school in separate schemes.

In addition to teaching at the school, Berry was the adviser for the Academic Achiever’s Club, which ran the school store. Coakley alleges that Berry used her personal credit card to buy items for the store, and then deposited the store’s profits into her personal bank account. In total, she is accused of defrauding the school of more than $16,000.

Suber’s was responsible for collecting funds from Putnam’s vocational programs from their respective department heads. Under her job, she was supposed to deposit that money into the city’s bank account every day. Instead, she is accused of depositing less money than she actually collected. Some days she allegedly took all the money, and made up for it on later days with checks or cash. She’s accused of stealing more than $14,000.

Both Suber and Berry will be arraigned at the Hampden County Hall of Justice on January 8.

An audit into finances at the school conducted by the City of Springfield in 2011 found that there were missing receipts, unchecked cash advances, and school funds put to personal use. City officials refused to release the names of anyone potentially involved, citing state law to protect the privacy of public employees.

The alleged thefts took place between June 2010 and December of 2010. Since that time, a new school building has been built behind the old Putnam, and the school's name has been changed to the Roger L. Putnam Vocational Academy.