An Arizona middle school says a parent stole thousands of dollars from the school's association of parents and teachers. Cocopah Middle School in Scottsdale realized more than $35,000 was missing from a fund used for school activities, field trips, and other programs. Shockingly, the prime suspect appears to be an active school volunteer.
Arizona Family reported that police believe Nubia Gonzalez stole the money after she was elected treasurer for the Cocopah Association of Parents and Teachers. The school and parents feel duped and want an explanation.
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Gonzalez reportedly spent a lot of time at school.
According to local news station Arizona Family, Gonzalez was an active volunteer mom who frequently worked at the middle school and helped in her children's classrooms. The news that she potentially stole money from the Cocopah Middle School APT was a shock.
"I have a finance background and accounting background, and it blows my mind that there's somebody who would do this knowing they were taking these types of funds away from children," Rebecca Ryerson, a Copotah parent, told Arizona Family.
Gonzalez was elected treasurer a few months ago.
Arizona Family discovered Gonzalez became treasurer of the Copotah APT in April 2024. She was reportedly given access to the APT's bank account at the end of June, and allegedly drained the funds. The news organization reported that police say they have photos of the mother as she deposited the money into her personal bank account.
The mother apparently disappeared and went dark on social media.
Scottsdale Police Sergeant Allison Sempsis told Arizona Family when police went to question Gonzalez, she was missing, and all of her social media accounts seemed to have been deleted.
"It was a false address she gave, not only to the police department, [Scottsdale Unified School District], everyone, so we do not know where they were living at this point. That was her sole intent; she became treasurer in April and as soon as she got access to bank accounts she cleaned them out," Sempsis said.
The mother's alleged actions hurt other parents.
"I mean, it's devastating, right? To think they would take away from the school and kids," Tanya Roberts told Arizona Family.
Ryerson said she hopes the community will rally around the school. "I want the people to feel like the community that we built is just as strong as it was 30 days ago before we knew about this event. I hope they'll see our community in Cocopah and get behind our fall fundraiser," she said.
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The school district is saddened by the alleged betrayal.
The Scottsdale Unified School District issued a statement to the Arizona Family regarding the missing money.
The statement reads:
“We are disappointed to learn about the alleged theft involving the treasurer of the Cocopah Middle School APT. It is disheartening to think that someone would take advantage of the hard work and dedication of our parent groups. Our APTs, PTOs, and Booster Clubs operate as separate non-profit organizations, and we greatly appreciate their tireless efforts to support our students, staff, and schools.
“The core purpose of these groups is to enhance the educational experience for our students, and we are grateful for their unwavering commitment. We want to assure our community that this incident does not reflect the values and integrity of our many volunteers and community partners.
“We hope that this unfortunate situation will not deter our engaged community from continuing to serve and give in support of their children.”
