Arizona Mom Took PTO Money to Pay for Gambling An Arizona woman took almost $19,000 from her child’s elementary school Parents and Teachers Organization to pay her family’s living expenses after she lost money gambling.
Tracey Frey, the former treasurer of the Parent Teacher Organization at the Kyrene de los Lagos Elementary School, began writing PTO checks to herself in June of 2005, when her car would not run and she did not have enough money to fix it. Frey told the police that she immediately began paying the money back, hoping her fellow PTO members and school officials would not notice the discrepancy in finances, according to the police report.
However, unexpected events soon caused Frey to “borrow” money from the PTO account once again. One of Frey’s children, who lives out- of- state, was involved in a car accident and needed money, and Frey did not have enough to give her. For this reason, she wrote another check from the PTO account and sent the money to her daughter. When her daughter did not pay her back as she had vowed to do, Frey wrote herself an additional check from the PTO account.
She then took the money to her workplace, the Casino Arizona, where she hoped to win back more money by gambling on the slot machines. Frey, who worked as a blackjack floor supervisor, said that she soon developed a gambling addiction, gambling away all of her wages and the PTO money on slot machines.
Soon, Frey had no more money to pay her rent, water, electricity, or heating bills, and began to steal more from the PTA to defray her expenses, as well as for gambling.
Frey admitted to taking PTO money to two fellow parents in the organization, but she told the women that she planned to pay the money back, according to the police report.
The former PTO treasurer told the police that she realized that she has a gambling addiction, and said that she barred herself from all of the casinos in the state of Arizona. Frey also told the police that she is currently attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings in an attempt to treat her gambling addiction. In Frey’s area, Gamblers Anonymous meeting are located in local churches, where former gambling addicts offer advice to current addicts on how to pay bills and stay out of the casinos and away from other types of gambling.
Frey has been completely cooperative with the police, according to Phoenix Sgt. Lauri Williams. Since she is not considered to be a flight risk, the former PTO treasurer has not been arrested and is not being held in police custody. The Maricopa County Attorney’s office has not yet decided whether to prosecute Frey.
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Arizona Mom Took PTO Money to Pay for Gambling An Arizona woman took almost $19,000 from her child’s elementary school Parents and Teachers Organization to pay her family’s living expenses after she lost money gambling.
