Former Watertown School Employee Gets 6 Months in Prison for Stealing Federal Funds

Former Watertown Middle School employee Sharon Cardarelli, 52, was sentenced to six months in prison and must pay $45,000 in restitution for taking federal funding and filing false tax returns in Boston Federal Court on Thursday.

Cardarelli, who was employed in a financial position at Watertown Middle School, orchestrated a theft scheme involving the submission of bogus time sheets of Watertown, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. 

Among her job responsibilities, Cardarelli processed the payroll for substitute teachers who worked at the middle school. While processing the payroll she prepared time sheets for substitutes and for authorizing those time sheets once completed and signed by the substitute. Cardarelli then sent the authorized time sheets to the Watertown Public School's Business Administration Office, where the actual paychecks were prepared before being returned to Cardarelli for distribution.

At various times between 2003 and 2010, two of Cardarelli ’s relatives occasionally worked as substitute teachers at the middle school. Cardarelli prepared and authorized nearly 250 substitute time sheets in the names of her relatives that falsely included hours that they did not work, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. She did not declare the money from the bogus paychecks on her tax returns.

She also kept at least $23,000 in money from fundraisers for Watertown Middle School student activities and deposited the money into her own bank account, the U.S. Attorney's office said. Cardarelli did not report the money she took from the fundraisers as income on her federal income tax returns.

Cardarelli was ordered to report to prison on Feb. 3, 2012 and also agreed to immediately turn over her Town of Watertown pension in order to satisfy much of the restitution amount, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. She pleaded guilty to theft from a program receiving federal funding and subscribing to false federal tax returns on May 10, 2011.

The announcement of Cardarelli's sentencing was made Thursday by U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; William P. Offord Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Region of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston; and Chief Edward P. Deveau of the Watertown Police Department.