Apr 1, 2009 6:53 pm US/Mountain
PTO President Accused Of Stealing $15,000
LONGMONT, Colo. (CBS4) ―
A former Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) president is in jail accused of stealing $15,000 from the PTO and then missing three different court dates.
Police say most recently Cali Blash skipped court three weeks ago and Tuesday officers caught up with her at her home in Longmont. Her husband said she wasn't home, so police hid and watched Blash's two children come outside and say they tried to help her avoid capture.
"Two of her sons came out and acted like they were passing a basketball back and forth, but their heads were turning around, looking, looking around … looking for the police," Tim Lewis with Longmont police said.
Lewis says eventually the boys went back inside.
"About three minutes after they went into the house she came out the back door and we were able to grab her when she came out the back door," Lewis said.
Investigators say when Blash was co-president of the PTO at Northridge Elementary School two years ago, she forged her co-signors name on checks. Now Blash is charged with 54 counts of identity theft and one count of felony theft after police say she stole $15,000 from the Northridge PTO.
"These are funds that pay for field trips, trips to the Capitol, even to the studios of Channel 4," John Poynton with the St. Vrain Valley School District said.
Poynton won't talk about Blash's case in particular but says PTO money at schools like Northridge is largely the hard-earned result of fundraising by students and parents.
"It's a betrayal when someone does the wrong thing with these funds," Poynton said.
Longmont police say Blash told them she was using the stolen PTO money to support her family, but investigators say it doesn't appear the money was going to necessities.
Blash is in Boulder County Jail with bond set at $20,000.
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