Former PTA president in Everett allegedly stole $15,000, charged in court

A former PTA president in Everett was accused and formally charged of stealing thousands of dollars from children at Hawthorne Elementary.

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The Everett Herald reports Merridy Senger was charged for forging at least 22 checks that police believe amounted to $15,000 dollars.

The forgery came to light last year, after a $5,000 PTA check bounced. Senger was then asked to provide financial records to account for the bounced check. In the ensuing days, it was found that 27 checks were made out to her fiancé, while a handful of other checks carried memos that were “proven to be entirely false.”

After this was discovered, Senger resigned right away. Now, she faces charges of first-degree theft, first degree identity theft, second-degree identity theft, and forgery.

Senger was evicted from a foreclosed home in Mount Vernon last year, around the same time the forged checks came to life.

Hawthorne is widely regarded as the city’s poorest elementary school. Thankfully, an anonymous donor stepped up in the wake of the theft to donate $15,000.

“In a positive reaction to a negative situation, the good people in the Everett community and school district reacted in a very generous, helpful and supportive way last spring,” said the Hawthorne PTA in a statement. “People stepped in at the end of the school year in 2017 to support the school in all the end of year activities during a potentially negative situation of money loss.”

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