Past Board Member Arrested for Felony Theft

Past Board Member Arrested for Felony Theft of Funds from a Parent-Teacher Student Group

Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Investigative Task Force (ITF) Detectives arrested and charged the past president and treasurer of Freeman School District Combined Parent-Teacher Student Group (PTSG) for Theft 1^st Degree this afternoon.  ITF Detectives began this investigation when current board members recognized the possible theft and quickly reported their suspicions in late August of this year.

During the ITF investigation, and with a considerable amount of help and cooperation of the current PTSG board, Detectives learned 36-year-old Tara L. Profit was the past treasurer and president of the group.

Profit had stopped providing board members with bank statements in May of 2018 and they became concerned.  At the PTSG meeting in August, they asked Profit about the account balance but Profit refused to answer and wrote the number “245” on a piece of paper.  She was asked if that meant there was only $245.00 in their account and Profit said that was accurate, blaming the low amount on over spending the previous school year.

The board became more suspicious and in the following days Profit had a text conversation with a board member regarding a check which should have been issued by the PTSG but was never received by the intended recipient.  During this conversation, Profit claimed the bank had made a mistake and was charging the PTSG’s account for Profit’s personal purchases instead of her own account.

Members of the board contacted Banner Bank and realized there had been unauthorized purchases on the PTSG account, the address had been changed, and a debit card had been issued.

At this point the board reported this information to the Sheriff’s Office, held an emergency meeting, and voted to remove Profit from the board.

A search of the PTSG financial records showed Profit had changed the account’s mailing address to her personal home address and the debit card for the account had been issued to her, all without the knowledge or permission of the board.  In addition, Investigators found numerous transactions totaling more than $6,000 had been made which appeared to be expenditures to cover Profit’s personal expenses and not legitimate PTSG expenses.

In late August, Profit did repay $5,200.00 of the PTSG funds with a cashier’s check.

With this and additional information gained during the investigation, ITF Detective Hixson determined probable cause exists to charge Profit with Theft 1^st Degree.  He arrested Profit this afternoon at the Public Safety Building and booked her into the Spokane County Jail for that charge.

We thank the current Freeman PTSG board for their openness and cooperation during this investigation.

Deputy Mark Gregory

Spokane County Sheriff’s Office

Spokane Valley Police Department
Public Information Officer
509-477-3287     Office