Former Bok employee charged with stealing student activity cash

Bad news came in pairs for Bok Technical High School on Thursday.

The school community learned the 74-year-old school was recommended for closure by Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. Meanwhile, its former school operations officer was arrested for allegedly embezzling $27,000 from student activity funds, according to court records.

Zara Sims, 41, of West Philadelphia, was hit with felony charges that include forgery, identity theft and theft by deception, according to records.

Sims, who began working in the district in 2002, was laid off July 1 due to budget cutbacks. She failed to make deposits of "at least $26,823" into the student funds, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

After she left, the principal, Larry Melton who has since retired, discovered the deposits hadn't been made and discussed it with Sims. She then made deposits in July and August totaling close to $17,000.

Investigators found altered deposit slips from previous years and a falsified version of Melton's signature on a quarterly report from 2011.

The money was supposed to pay for extracurricular activities and scholarships.

" @ReginaMedina