PGCPS refers 3 former employees for prosecution, alleged theft of $80,000

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - Three former Prince George's Public County Schools employees accused of stealing thousands of dollars from the school system have been referred to the state's attorney's office for prosecution.

Board member David Murray says the three former employees are accused of taking $80,000 between them. The three cases are separate and the employees worked at different schools, according to Murray.

In January, FOX 5 uncovered that hundreds of thousands of dollars had gone missing from PGCPS over the last several years.

According to records obtained by FOX 5, in some instances, staff members were suspected of stealing money, yet school officials did not notify law enforcement and instead handled cases internally.

After the report aired, Interim Schools CEO Dr. Monica Goldson, announced that all cases of missing funds and alleged fraud dating back to 2015 would be referred to the Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office for review and possible prosecution.

"Moving forward, PGCPS will coordinate with law enforcement on any waste, fraud and abuse cases within the system," Goldson said in an e-mail to staff and parents.

Murray says board members were told Thursday that the three cases are on the state's attorney's desk. He believes there will be additional cases referred for prosecution as well.

"These are a few cases. There's the potential that there are more that the board will deem that we need to go after," said Murray. "The most important thing to me, is that our school system and our students are made whole. That this money is returned to the school system, and that we send a message that stealing from our kids is never going to be acceptable in Prince George's County."

He said the board was not made aware of the names of the former employees or specifics of the accusations.