update...the principal talked to the girls and they admitted that it happen. in the meantime the customer had gone to the police yesterday who in returned went to the house. all money was given to the police who returned it to the people...luckily the girls kept the records. Principal talked to father who was pissed off about it all but we know you cant please everyone. as far as i know this was kept mainly between the school office and myself but it could have gone very very bad but i think we stopped it first=)

I agree with michkan, go to the police. Your organization has been hurt by these girls too, both your finances and your reputation. If this gets widely known it could seriously affect your ability to ever have a sucessful fundraiser. I recommend that the President and one other PTO rep contact the woman who was cheated and all go together to the police. If there are others who have come forward have them come too. These girls need to be punished. They are thieves.

We had some girls steal from our book fair last year. Their parents caught them and they brought back the merchandise and apologized. We also put the girls to work packing the stuff up when the event was over. We told them that when they steal from the book fair, they are stealing from all the kids in the school because all the funds raised go right back into the school for books, assemblies, etc. Also, having to help with clean up gave them the opportunity to see how much work goes into having these fundraisers and how much time some of these parents give to this school. They also got to know the book fair chairperson and how sweet she is. They won't do it again.

I wish you good luck on working this out. Let us know what happens.

pals - this happened at our school last spring. we had a boy who "sold" products to his neighbors, collected the money - going so far as to to telling some of the people that the PTO did not accept checks and that he needed the cash - and then turned nothing in. After several attempts to contact the child's mother and get to the bottom of the matter, we involved the police - our VP & Pres went to the police with everything they knew. The Dectective went tot he house and spoke with the child's mother - apparently the child had hidden the checks that he did get up in the attic - these were turned over to the police and then given back to the owners of the checks. After a few weeks the mother came into the school and paid the money that was taken in cash. The PTO deposited this money in our account and then wrote out checks to the people that ordered so that we would have a record that payment/reimbursement was made.

I would definetely contact the police - they are able to do more than the PTO could. Good Luck and let us know how this turns out.

Hi I have never seen this on here so here goes. We had a fundraiser and two 4th grade girls sold product, collecting cash and never turned in the orders. a very irtae woman calls me and wants her stuff, looking at paper work it comes apparent that she has been scamed . I tell her there was no order placed by either girl, she wants to go the police. She asks for a catalog, so i mail her one. today she shows up at school , leaves angry because she ahsnt received it yet and shows up at the distridt office screaming. This is in the middle of SOME VERY VERY serious happenings at our jr, high which has resulted in alot of bad press. so i am afraid that she might atke this and run with it. I have had a couple of peolpe say give her her money, but we dont know how many this happen to. My principal says its a civil matter and that we shouldnt be involved ..has anyone ever dealt with this ???? i need help fast!!