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Greenacres councilwoman Lisa Rivera arrested in connection with former job at the school district

Posted at 9:03 AM, Jun 27, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-27 18:59:19-04

A Greenacres city councilwoman faces larceny and fraud charges in connection with her former job as the treasurer of Boca Raton Community High School.

Councilwoman Lisa Marie Rivera was booked at the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office at 3:12 p.m. Monday.

Rivera is accused of stealing more than $23,000 while she served as treasurer at the school.

 

Greenacres City Manager Andrea McCue confirms that city officials were notified Monday of Rivera's arrest.

A police report says Rivera removed cash from teacher/sponsor deposits that were placed in a drop safe and would then replace the stolen cash with unrecorded checks before submitting the deposits to the bank.

The report indicates that Rivera has been under investigation since 2015 by the School District’s Inspector General’s Office and stole thousands of dollars from the school.

Palm Beach County School District Police signed a probable cause affidavit for Rivera’s arrest on Feb. 3, 2017.

Rivera was released from jail at 4:39 p.m. on June 26 on $10,000 bond.

She is being charged with grand theft over $20,000 and organized scheme to defraud.

The school district issued the following statement:

"We appreciate the hard work by investigators with both the School District Police and School District’s Office of Inspector General on this case, which was turned over to the State Attorney for prosecution. We look forward to its quick resolution."

Rivera's tenure at the district lasted almost 25 years. She resigned on October 5, 2015, according to the school district.

According to the city's website, Rivera has been a resident of Greenacres for seven years since marrying Palm Beach County deputy Vidal Rivera. 

The city says Rivera is the first Latina elected to the City Council.

Just last week the former treasurer of Bak Middle School of the Arts, Cathleen Spring, was arrested on suspicion of forgery and official misconduct.  

A report by the Palm Beach County School District Inspector General alleged that Spring removed more than 100 deposits from the school’s safe totally $66,000 from the school.

The State Attorney’s office declined to prosecute on the inspector’s allegations citing of lack of evidence but school police later arrested Spring on charges of forgery and misconduct.