Stealing the Kindergarten Teacher's purse

I read a very interesting post in Gregory's blog about burglaries the other day. It is a really helpful article and I would encourage you to check it out. I mentioned to him that my purse had been stolen and he encouraged me to write about it so I did!

Every year in the Public Schools, I would co-ordinate a big Clifford parade as a culmination of a week long unit on Clifford the Big Red Dog. The children would get so excited and proudly march in their red and white outfits as their parents happily made videos or took pictures.

I remember one year that my assistant was out with pneumonia on the day of our big parade but it turned out to be a great day and the children were very well -behaved. I remember walking them out to the bus that day and showering them with hugs and praise for the fine job they had done. Thirty minutes later, I was met in my classroom by two parents who had arrived for their conference. I distinctly remember that they were divorced but had an amicable relationship and wanted to work together to make sure their child succeeded.

Our conference wound down after about forty-five minutes and I asked them if I could walk out with them since it was getting late. They cheerfully agreed and I went to grab my purse. I was puzzled that it wasn't where I thought I had left it. I started searching with the parents who offered to stay and help me look for it  I  could find no sign of it anywhere. I called for the custodian and he joined us in the search. I ended up having to call my husband to come and get me that Friday afternoon because I just couldn't figure out where I had misplaced it. Just to be on the safe side, I called and canceled my credit card and was advised by a manager at the bank to put a freeze on my checks since I knew the sequence of the numbers in my missing checkbook.

The next day I received a call around noon from a woman at a check cashing center. She told me "my babysitter" was there to cash a 170.00 check. I told her to call the police immediately and realized that my purse had been stolen. She tried to keep the woman there but she had fled by the time the police arrived.

Over the next month, I received countless calls from collection agencies threatening to prosecute me for insufficient funds. I became an expert at filling out affidavits of forgery. Over 4,000.00 worth of checks were written on my account. I kept telling myself that at least I was safe because I had put a stop payment on the stolen checks. I was so wrong. A person can set up a draft on a checking account if they have the number which is what my thief did. Since my account had never been closed, I ended up being responsible for those funds. I was angry because I thought the bank officer should have warned me of this. I closed the account that very day.

I called the detective in charge of my case and he told me he had over 100 cases in his log but that he was doing his best to find the person that stole my purse and checkbook. Since the person kept writing checks, I decided to do some detective work of my own. I started going to wherever the checks had been cashed and asking to watch the store videos. This went on for a few weeks to no avail and I began to get really discouraged. 

I remember one night I went to a grocery store and said a silent prayer before I went in. I asked God to please help me put a stop to the misery of having to deal with all the harassment from the collection agencies. I went in and asked the manager if I could see the video for the day the check in my hand had been cashed. We watched it together but we could not find the numbered sequence to match the time stamped on my check. I remember silently praying "Lord, I don't know if I can take much more of this!"  Dejected, I thanked him and turned to leave.

All of a sudden, he called me back and asked to look at my check again. He looked down at it and said he realized that whoever wrote out the check wrote the wrong date on it. He pulled out another tape and we found the correct sequence. There on the tape was a parent at my school laughing with a friend while she wrote out one of my checks with my purse over her shoulder. She had a child in the first grade classroom across the hall. I was dumbfounded. Many people would say that it was just a coincidence that the store manager found the correct tape but I know it was an answer to prayer!

It took a few more weeks for the police to get all of the information that they needed before she was arrested and convicted. On the day social services came to take her children away from her, someone slit one of my tires at school. I was never able to prove who did it but I did stand my ground and ask that she be tried and prosecuted for stealing my purse. I never got my purse or funds returned but the biggest thing I lost was my tendency to trust. I locked my purse in my car after that.

In the private school I work in now I marvel at how the students leave backpacks lying outside on the grounds. As I walked to my car this evening, I saw a violin left in front of a building.  In three years, I have never heard of any incidents of theft at my school. I feel so blessed to be working in such a wonderful place.