Deborah Draper-Robins, 52, of Herriman, was charged in 3rd District Court in May with theft by deception, a second-degree felony, after accountants for the school district said they discovered unexplainable gaps in her bookkeeping.
Draper-Robins, head secretary for the Jordan Applied Technology Center in Sandy, was responsible for receiving and depositing payments for the school's lunch, food handler and cosmetology programs, D. Burke Jolley, the district's assistant superintendent, stated in charging documents.
Accountants for the district discovered discrepancies in center funds after installing new accounting software in January, according to the charging documents. Accountant John Larsen found Draper-Robins was the only person who handled bookkeeping and deposits for the center and she couldn't explain problems with receipts and deposits, the documents state.
Judge Tyrone Medley dismissed the case against Draper-Robins on Tuesday, after prosecutor Matthew Lloyd said he couldn't move forward with the case because he didn't have a witness who could lay a foundation for bank records in the case and how Draper-Robins may have deviated from standard procedure when handling such records.
Lloyd said he intends to refile charges in the case later this week.
In the charging documents filed in May, auditors cited several examples of money missing in center funds. In January, the school's lunch and food handler programs took in $6,040, but Draper-Robins only deposited $3,530, court documents state.
Financial statements for the center from July 2007 through January 2008 showed a similar trend of missing money. Draper-Robins is accused of stealing a total of $28,313, according to documents.
Draper-Robins was employed in her position at the center from December 2000 through January of this year. She worked for the district a total of 12 years and was terminated in March, said June LeMaster, executive director of human resources for the Jordan School District.
