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Stranger Than Fiction: Secretary Stealing from School, Busted by Granddaughter
posted by: Colin | August 27, 2010, 01:39 PM   

A Queens school secretary charged over $6,000 to a Middle College High School procurement account by purchasing luxuries on Amazon.com for herself and her family. Over seven years, Debbie Rizzo used the school account to buy herself a Dell computer, flowers, an iPod docking station, expensive sweaters, car service trips, a washer and dryer, ceiling fans and other household items. Unrelated to her crime spree, Rizzo was laid off last year due to budget cuts.

Although she may not break any records for exorbitant illegal purchases, this is more than just pocketing office supplies. In fact, you'd have to swipe over 1,000,000 paperclips to come close to the amount of money Rizzo stole. (And before you think about stealing that many paperclips, realize that one million paperclips is roughly 1,000 pounds.) So far there have been no criminal charges filed against her but school officials are reconsidering how they manage procurement accounts.

How did the investigators catch Rizzo? She made the fateful error that many Mafia crime bosses and Wall Street scam artists make—she stopped paying her granddaughter's cell phone bill. (Isn't that what brought down Al Capone?)

The vengeful 14-year-old then snitched to the school about granny's shopping sprees and ended her reign of terror. No word on whether or not the granddaughter got her cell phone back.

Rizzo's daughter, the spiteful girl's mother, claims the school forced the young girl to give up her grandmother. I think she underestimates how important a cell phone is to a teenage girl. Most kids have two grandmothers, but only one cell phone, you do the math.

Remember the lesson here: Stop stealing from school children and don't upset your 14-year-old granddaughter, she knows how to call the police and she'll rat you out faster than you can say "embezzlement."

Comment below.

Comments (3)Add Comment
No honor among thieves
written by Marie from Arizona, August 28, 2010

What a great article. My girlfriends and I ROLLED in laughter as we read this together! This is the best family embezzlement story ever. Someone needs to write a comedy screenplay based on this story. GREAT FUN!
Not Funny At All
written by Linda, FL, August 27, 2010

And she never would have been found out if her granddaughter weren't a brat. Three generations of unscrupulous females. I certainly hope there will be prosecution. Does the school have no system of checks in place?!!
...
written by jill, VA, August 27, 2010

This is painfully hilarious.

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