Former Ridgeland High School bookkeeper arrested on fraud charges

Lonna Louise Crow
Lonna Louise Crow
photo Lonna Louise Crow

Former Ridgeland High School bookkeeper Lonna Louise Crow turned herself in at the Walker County Jail today on 22 counts of financial transaction card fraud.

Sheriff Steve Wilson said Crow used the school's Lowe's credit card to skim $8,868.50 into her funds. She allegedly purchased Visa, Mastercard and iTunes gift cards with the money, from May 31, 2018, to Jan. 22.

Wilson said investigators have line items of transactions from the school's credit card. They also have security footage of at least some purchases at the Lowe's on Battlefield Parkway in Fort Oglethorpe.

The Lowe's card was stored in Crow's office, Wilson said, and she would lend it to teachers or other staff when they needed to make purchases for Ridgeland - plants for a horticulture class, for example. On Jan. 22, her last day of work, Wilson said, she made a $1,034 purchase.

"She would issue the card out or sign it out if the teacher needed it," he said. "She was kind of the caretaker of it."

Investigators began looking into her after another school employee took Crow's job. Wilson said the other employee noticed odd payments with the card.

Wilson said Crow, 41, declined to speak with investigators.

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