Photo: Jenna Leporati
Ventura County – 46-year-old Moorpark resident Jenna Leporati is both the mother of a Flory School student and an active member of the school’s “booster club,” which is managed by parents without, apparently, much school district oversight. Evidence of that administrative failure came with the March 27th arrest of Leporati—working as the group’s treasurer–on charges of embezzlement.
According to their online mission statement, the fundraising efforts of The Flory Academy of Sciences and Technology are directed toward the support of student education, with a stated goal of raising $90,000 each year.
Apparently that amount of money was a bit too tempting for Leporati, who, in spite of a criminal history that includes convictions for felony identity theft, felony commercial burglary, and felony forgery, as well as misdemeanors for driving with a suspended license and providing false information to a cop, had full access to the Flory Booster’s financial accounts.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Det. Sgt. Kevin Lynch, members of the booster club “discovered fraudulent activity” on March 23rd and immediately reported the problem to the school principal and to the VCSD. The ensuing investigation revealed that funds in the booster club account were less than half of what had been raised in prior years.
Detectives served a warrant on Leporati’s residence on the 27th, during which they “recovered several pieces of evidence” implicating her in the embezzlement of the organization’s funds. She was arrested at the scene and transported to Ventura County Jail, where she was booked on a charge of embezzlement, with her bail set at $20,000.
