The former superintendent of a closed Oklahoma City charter school, Justice Alma Wilson Seeworth Academy, has been ordered to pay $41,473 in restitution for embezzling from a school account to make personal purchases and get cash at casinos.
Janet Grigg, 79, will be on probation for seven years.
Seeworth Academy, 12600 N Kelley, served students with academic and behavioral struggles from 1998 until it closed on June 30, 2019. Grigg was involved from the start until she was fired at the end.
She was charged in 2022 in Oklahoma County District Court, months after a searing audit of the school’s finances was released. “The criminality of this cannot be ignored,” State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd said in 2021.
Grigg pleaded no contest in April to three felony counts of embezzlement. District Judge Cindy Truong decided her punishment on Wednesday, Sept. 17.
The building that once housed Polk Elementary School and Justice Alma Seeworth Academy is pictured July 28, 2021, in Oklahoma City.
Grigg was accused in the first count of awarding herself bonuses 31 times without school board authorization over five years. She contended those bonuses, totaling more than $200,000, were authorized.
She was accused in the second count of using a school “corporate” account to make cash withdrawals and personal purchases. Cash withdrawals from ATMs at Oklahoma casinos totaled more than $4,500, according to a court affidavit.
“We agree there were some purchases that shouldn’t have been made,” defense attorney Scott Adams said Wednesday, after noting Grigg and her late husband had donated $80,000 to the school over the years.
She was accused in the third count of keeping a school-owned 2007 GMC Yukon after her termination. Oklahoma City Public Schools had the Yukon repossessed from Grigg’s home on April 29, 2020.
Prosecutors had sought more than $418,000 in restitution from Grigg, including the cost of the audit. The judge required restitution only for the embezzlement from the school corporate account because of Grigg’s limited ability to pay.
The judge was told Grigg lives in a trailer in Oklahoma City and only has income from Social Security. “Even $40,000 is a stretch,” the defense attorney said.
About the bonuses, the judge said there was a failure in oversight and others share the blame. “Somebody had to sign the checks,” the judge said.
Grigg was allowed to pay only $80 a month in restitution. At that rate, she will have to live to 123 to pay off the total. The restitution payments will go to Oklahoma City Public Schools.
Prosecutors wanted the judge to impose a 20-year suspended sentence, which would have made Grigg a convicted felon. The judge instead chose a deferred sentence, which means Grigg will not have a conviction if she completes her probation successfully.
“I don’t condone what you did,” the judge said.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Former OKC charter school superintendent ordered to pay restitution