An Eagle County woman was sentenced Wednesday to a year in jail after stealing $7,000 from a fund created by a local high school for a graduation celebration.
Holly Sandoval, 49, took the money from the Eagle Valley High School 2013 Project Graduation fund through a variety of means, including forging checks, writing checks to herself, and collecting cash but not depositing the money, according to the Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Sandoval worked as the treasurer for the group; officials said she began taking the money in late 2012. Officials said she continually fed false information to Project Graduation committee members, misstating bank balances and payments — ultimately, discrepancies discovered during tax preparation in 2014 uncovered the theft.
School officials contacted the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, which conducted an investigation that, among other things, uncovered a bag of funds, nine months after the graduation had occurred. Sandoval told deputies she was “storing” the money.
Besides the jail time, Sandoval was sentenced to four years of supervised probation and restitution of $1,641. Sandoval had pleaded guilty to in December 2014 to felony theft, which carried a possible sentence of 12 to 18 months in jail.
