One NWA P.T.O. Missing Thousands Of Dollars

Sugar Creek Elementary in Bentonville is a lot like any other. On Wednesday teachers spent the day preparing for the upcoming school year, but administrators spent the day wondering what happened to thousands of dollars raised by the schools parent teacher organization. Reports in one local newspaper put the amount between $10,000 and $30,000, however Chief James Allen with the Bentonville Police Department tells us the missing money appears to amount to about $14,000. Still the theft is now become the focus of a police investigation. And while we are told that one Sugar Creek P.T.O. member is a suspect in that investigation, neither police nor schools administrators will say who. Gary Compton is superintendent for the school system, in a conversation today he told us its common for a P.T.O. to raise several thousand dollars in one night, but when the organizations president checked the P.T.O.S Arvest account on Monday only a couple hundred dollars remained. Investigators tell us they expect this case to be wrapped up quickly, though, because a very telling paper trail was left behind...Revealing not only businesses where P.T.O. funds were illegally spent but also the signature of the person spending that money.