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Vernon police charge former school employee with embezzling money

VERNON — Vernon Police say they’ve charged the former Director of Food and Nutrition with five counts of money embezzling. Police said in May, they ...
Paul Olson

VERNON — Vernon Police say they’ve charged the former Director of Food and Nutrition with five counts of money embezzling.

Police said in May, they were notified by the Vernon Board of Education and Town of Vernon for possible embezzlement from the Food Service funds.

Police investigated for several months and that investigation culminated in 54-year-old Paul Olson’s arrest.

Police said that Olson, while serving as Director, stole a cash deposit from the school cafeteria, totalling around $648.

Through the investigation, police learned that Olson was designated to get the cash deposits from each school cafeteria on a locked bag.

Olson then had the responsibility to process the money and prepare them for a bank deposit. A courier took the money from the schools to Olson, and then back to the bank for a deposit.

During one of the transactions, the courier noticed that a single deposit bag was missing.

Police say Olsen told the courier that he had directly deposited those funds to the bank, which turned out to violate the internal financial controls and police of the Town.

The courier at once alerted a Town of Vernon Finance Staff member who immediately reported the it to the police.

Detectives conducted a join investigation with the Board of Education and the Town. During the investigation, police say they learned that Olson had forged the signature of the courier on a log which documented the deposit.

The bag contained the $648 missing deposit.

Police say that Olson had also gave a false statement to detectives investigating the theft.

Olson was charged with second degree larceny, false statement, criminal impersonation, identity theft, and forgery. HE posted a $10,000 bond, and is expected in court on December 11th.

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