Mother charged for alleged embezzling from school parent club

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    HOLLISTER, California (KSBW) — Forty-seven-year-old Hollister mother Jennifer Starkweather has been arrested and charged with embezzling nearly $73,000 from the parent club at Ladd Lane Elementary School in Hollister.

“Which basically puts on fundraisers and stuff for the kids, you know, extracurricular activities, buying books and such for the classrooms and everything, and that was the money that was stolen. I don’t know what the money was used for on the suspect’s end,” said Det. Jeremy Cedeno, with the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators accuse Starkweather of stealing from the kids beginning in 2021 up until last year. According to the owner of Esperanza check cashing, Starkweather would cash checks there written in her own name, but something didn’t seem right.

“We charge fees, so it was kind of funny that a parent club that’s trying to raise money for their school is coming here cashing checks and getting charged these fees when they could just go to their own bank and pull the money out,” said Mona Beltran, owner of Esperanza check cashing.

But then Starkweather started bouncing checks.

“But she would come and pay them right away, next day she was here to pay them or two days later she would give us a date and she’d be here,” said Beltran.

Then last summer Starkweather didn’t make good on two checks for more than a thousand dollars and the owner contacted school leaders and the investigation into Starkweather was underway.

Of the $73,000 the parent club member allegedly embezzled, more than $20,000 in checks were cashed at Esperanza check cashing, according to Beltran.

“It takes a lot; it takes a village to fundraise, to earn money, to get all these things going for these kids, you know, field trips, books, you know, all that, whatever they need, and it’s sad that they she took that away from them,” said Beltran.

“You’re not taking away from the parents, you’re taking away from the kids from their learning and stuff, so it’s kind of hard,” added Rita Casarez, an employee at Esperanza.

The Hollister school district responded to the embezzlement allegations, saying in part, “The district is conducting its own internal review of the parent club’s practices and, in the interim, is overseeing all monies received by the club this school year.”

As for Jennifer Starkweather, she is no longer associated with the parent club and is due in court Thursday morning for a pre-trial hearing. Her attorney of record did not respond to calls for comment.

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