Former school cafeteria manager sentenced for stealing

By Amanda Stewart

Published: March 20, 2008

A former Lake Ridge Middle School food services manager was sentenced in Prince William Circuit Court Thursday to five years probation for stealing more than $34,000 from school funds over two months last year.

Valorie Jean Penn, 53, of 12400 MidSummer Lane, Apt. B302 in Woodbridge, pleaded guilty in February to one count of embezzlement for taking a total of $34,173.87 from school cafeteria funds.

Thursday, substitute Prince William Circuit Court judge Herman A. Whisenant, Jr. sentenced Penn to five years of probation and seven years in prison, with all of the prison time suspended. He also ordered Penn to repay the money to Prince William County Public Schools.

Penn was originally charged with six other counts of embezzlement, but prosecutors dropped those charges at the time of her plea in February.

Prosecutors said that over a seven- or eight-week period beginning in March 2007 Penn altered the school’s computer records, changing the amount of deposits the school made to the bank and taking some amount of money, usually between $100 and $200 a day, for her self.

School officials noticed the missing money in May and Penn was charged with embezzlement.

Penn, who had worked at Lake Ridge Middle school since 2000, was placed on administrative leave in May and later resigned in June, school officials said.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.