By LYNETTE HAALAND, SCOTT W. COLEMAN
A Steiner Ranch woman who failed to deposit several thousand dollars of funds following the River Ridge Elementary PTA book fair last fall was arrested on theft, a state jail felony, on June 9.
Trisha Greenway is out on bond after being arrested on June 9 for theft. The affidavit states she failed to deposit thousands of dollars of River Ridge Elementary PTA book fair funds after the fall fundraiser.
Patricia “Trisha” Greenway, 47, is out on bond. The Travis County affidavit states that bond was set at $5,000.
Greenway said that she was arrested, is out on bond and that she cannot comment.
Attorney Aaron Mueller, of Austin law firm Granger, Mueller & Wood, is representing Greenway.
The Travis County affidavit states that Vince Mancuso, RRE PTA treasurer, provided information that led to Greenway’s arrest.
The affidavit states that Gretchen Raftalis, PTA board member, delivered money with an itemized receipt to Greenway’s Steiner Ranch home each day after the RRE book fair, which ran from November 11 – 15.
Greenway, who was then 4th VP of Fundraising with RRE PTA, was responsible for making a $7,658.43 deposit. She made a deposit for $1,170.15 on Nov. 22 and for $876.88 on Jan. 7, which was in cash and in checks, according to the affidavit.
On April 7, RRE PTA board member, Raftalis, conducted an audit on the financial records for the PTA and found that the account was still missing $5,611.40. Raftalis met with Mancuso and they conducted another audit which showed the same amount missing, and that it was specifically tied to the fall book fair fundraiser that Greenway was responsible for depositing the money raised, the affidavit states.
The report goes on to say, Mancuso spoke with Greenway regarding the missing funds, and she stated to him “that she knew where the money was and she needed time to get it back.” Greenway went on to state “that she never deposited the money” and asked Mancuso “not to tell anyone about it.”
The affidavit states that Greenway also asked Mancuso if “he could move funds from another PTA account to cover the money that is missing,” and he stated he could not do that.
On April 7, Greenway deposited a check in the amount of $6,544.29 into the PTA’s account. Greenway over deposited $932.89, according to the affidavit.
As reported in Four Points News in April, Greenway admitted depositing the funds late, calling the failure to deposit the funds immediately after the book fair a mistake.