Lunch Lady Accused Of Stealing Up To $64K From Students: Report

BROWN DEER, WI -- A Brown Deer woman has been charged after authorities said she stole as much as $64,000 from the Brown Deer School district in her role collecting lunch money from students.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Milwaukee County, Jennifer Marie Dettmann has been charged with theft in a business setting and could face up to five years behind bars or up to $25,000 in fines - or both if she is convicted. She's due in court on Jan. 30 for her initial appearance.

In the complaint, investigators said Dettmann was the sole person responsible for collecting student money and managing their accounts for the district's food service program.

Investigators said Dettmann would collect checks, cash and credit card payments from students. In her scheme, investigators said Dettmann would type the amount of funds for each student into the district's food service payment system. After she did that, investigators said Dettmann would deposit some of that money into the bank, but keep a second batch of funds for herself, and deposit it in her personal bank account.

According to the criminal complaint, Brown Deer District officials first noticed something was wrong during the end of the 2015-16 school year when the district's finance director attempted to close out the food service system's accounts.

Their investigation led officials to learn that there was more money posted to student food service accounts than was actually deposited in the bank over a four-year period.

According to the criminal complaint, investigators looked into Dettmann's bank records and found more than $64,000 in deposits that could not be accounted for between 2013 and 2016.

When authorities questioned Dettmann in Nov. 2018, they said Dettmann admitted to her embezzlement scheme, and that she likely took approximately $50,000 during her time at the district.

According to the criminal complaint, Dettmann resigned her position with the district in Jan. 2016. In the complaint, district officials noted that following her resignation, the district's food service account discrepancies immediately stopped.

Image Via Shutterstock