State Auditor: Wagoner School District Just As Much To Blame For Stolen Money

By Chris Wright, The News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY – A Wagoner County Public school district is missing more than a quarter million dollars, and the state says an employee took the cash and pocketed it.

An audit released Wednesday accuses a former Wagoner Food Service Director of stealing at least $270,000.

The state auditor says the employee pocketed an average of $67,000 a year over four years, and he says the school district shares just as much blame as she does.

The audit reveals that more than lunches may have been cooked in the cafeteria at Wagoner Schools.

Former Food Services Director Mary Gaylor is accused of cooking the books, taking $270,000 from 2005 through 2009.

The state auditor says she re-wrote bank deposit slips and pocketed the difference.

"Giving one person too much control over transactions that should be done by more than one person," Steve Burrage, State Auditor, said.

Steve Burrage's office has been investigating Gaylor since she was suspended in April of 2009. He says if administrators had provided more oversight, the alleged fraud would have been discovered earlier.

"When you get in a situation where there's fraud and abuse, and there's improper accounting systems, I put the blame directly on the people in governance," Burrage said.

For a smaller district like Wagoner, $270,000 is not exactly a drop in the bucket. Parents and residents say students could end up paying the price.

"It's not a good thing for the kids to see or hear about," one parent said.

"Taxes keep going up and you've got people in there stealing," another parent said. "Honestly they should throw the book at them."

The state auditor believes a lot more money may be missing. Only financial records from 2005 until 2009 were available for the audit. But Gaylor worked as food service director for 15 years.

Wagoner's superintendent declined to comment about the audit.

The report says that Gaylor stole as much as $81,000 in a single year.

No charges have been filed against Gaylor.

A copy of this report has been provided to the Wagoner County District Attorney Jerry Moore for his review and is available online at the Auditor's web site.