Two years after the founder of an elite private school allegedly absconded with over a million bucks from the Marin County institution, authorities have tracked the suspect down at her Florida home and arrested her.
According to its website, the elite Mount Tamalpais School in Mill Valley was founded in 1976 to serve students from kindergarten through eighth grade. Not currently mentioned on its about page is its founder, 70-year-old Kathleen Marie Mecca, who "allegedly diverted $1,054,042 from a Mount Tamalpais School Director’s Office account at Westamerica Bank," KRON 4 reports, between June 1, 2008, and Aug. 21, 2015.
The Marin Independent Journal reports that Mecca, who led the school until her retirement in August of 2015, "has been under a cloud of suspicion" since she stepped down. It was only after her departure that financial irregularities came to light, and a subsequent investigation revealed the alleged diversion.
In addition, KRON reports that Mecca allegedly "used 93 checks from the school’s account for her personal credit cards, and at least $32,240 was spent on purchases in Kona, Hawaii, the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Half Moon Bay and at a resort where she was married in 2015."
According to the IJ, the stolen funds came from "school applications, tuition and donations."
Eventually, the school reached a settlement agreement with Mecca, in which "She agreed to pay about $650,000, much of it from her share in a Hawaii residence she owned with her ex-husband, Andrew Mecca." According to CBS 5, she's paid $548,460 of that, but "Two parents of children who attended the school asked the Marin County District Attorney’s Office on June 10, 2016, to investigate Mecca for embezzlement."
The IJ reports that prosecutor's investigators interviewed Mecca at yet another of her homes, in Santa Barbara. According to the investigator's report, Mecca “confirmed she had paid personal expenses out of the account because she erroneously believed the personal expenses were balanced out by other expenses she was making on the school’s behalf."
“Defendant said she fully understands her own mistakes and stupidity in making some of the decisions she has made, but she has also learned people are quick to believe the worst and there is no loyalty.”
Fast forward to Tuesday, and officers with the Indian River County Sheriff's Department arrived at Mecca's Vero Beach, Florida home to arrest her, according to their website. She posted $150,000 bond, and was released on Wednesday. Accoding to the Chron, "it was uncertain whether she would be extradited to California."