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By Jan LaValley
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Following a grueling two-day trial, Cecile Scott was found guilty in Circuit Court last week of one count of petit larceny for taking money from a Rappahannock Elementary School fund. The case had been appealed from General District Court by Scott, who maintained her innocence-throughout.
A pattern of theft had been detected at Rappahannock Elementary School by school administrative personnel. The Rappahannock Sheriff's Office set up a surveillance camera for the room where the money and testing materials are stored — “the vault” — and a log was kept of people requesting use of the key to the file cabinet in the vault where the money is kept. A daily count of the amount of money in each teacher’s file and in the cash box was also made and photocopies were made of the money. The surveillance began around the end of February.
Scott was charged with taking $5 on March 18, $20 on March 27 and $3 on May 13. Defense Attorney Douglas Baumgardner argued that the “other acts" of theft which occurred prior to the end of February were prejudicial to Scott. The court upheld the argument and Commonwealth’s Attorney Peter Luke was not allowed to use background evidence of the pattern of thefts.
The money missing on March 18 was from the lounge lizard fund — a teacher’s fund. The money taken on March 27 was taken from another teacher’s file and the money taken on May 13 was taken from the student’s incentive fund. Scott flatly denied she took the money on March 18
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