Warrant: Conway detectives seek school records in booster club money investigation

CONWAY, Ark. – Conway police detectives searched school district records and the bank account of a Conway Public Schools music department bookkeeper accused of using booster club debit cards for personal purchases and taking cash, including money a detective says video shows her leaving a school office with, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

The employee, Anita Self, has been placed on administrative leave, The Log Cabin Democrat reported. She had not been charged as of Wednesday, according to online court records.

Detective Ivan Cortes of the Conway Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division wrote in an affidavit that he received a report Sept. 14 that about $400 had been taken from a safe. Video footage showed Self entering the school outside school hours, going into her office, where the safe was kept, and leaving with cash in hand, Cortes wrote.

Faulkner County Circuit Judge Charles E. Clawson III signed the first warrant Sept. 14 for the district’s administrative building at 2220 Prince St. It authorized police to seize reports, emails, notes, statements and surveillance video tied to the district’s internal investigation into Self, along with the bank information she provided to the district for direct deposit.

Cortes wrote that the records were sought as evidence of fraudulent use of a credit card, a Class D felony, and theft of property.

According to the affidavit, Conway High School Principal K. Worley contacted police Sept. 1 after a member of the Conway High Choir Boosters reported unauthorized transactions on the group’s account. Self was an authorized user on the account, served as treasurer for the boosters and had her name on the club’s First Security debit card, the affidavit states.

A review of the card history found two unauthorized charges totaling $1,003.86, Cortes wrote: a $20 Square Inc. charge to Miss Arkansas and a $983.86 charge at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Little Rock.

Police received a second report Sept. 4. Worley told officers that Band Director Nathan Cunningham and Choir Director Kayla White had reported unauthorized transactions on their booster accounts, according to the affidavit.

Cunningham, who is also a board member of the Conway Band Foundation, told police Self admitted making two unauthorized purchases on the foundation’s card, the affidavit states. Both were Apple.com charges: $25.97 at 3:18 a.m. April 14 and $33.97 at 9:24 p.m. April 24.

Cunningham also told police that Self left Conway Junior High School around 6:30 p.m. Aug. 7 carrying the bank bag that held all money collected during junior high band registration that day. Checks from the registration were later deposited into an account for Bob Courtway Middle School, but the cash could not be located, according to the affidavit.

Cunningham said Self had withdrawn $550 on Aug. 6 as startup change for the registration, which brought in $2,015 in fees. Neither the startup money nor the cash from fees was deposited, a total of $2,565, the affidavit states.

In a separate report, Worley told police that Casey Buck reported $546 in cash missing from the Conway High School Orchestra Boosters account. Self was the bookkeeper and allegedly received the cash May 22, according to the affidavit.

Taken together, the amounts described in the affidavits total about $4,575.

Cortes wrote that he used Self’s direct deposit information to identify her bank. Circuit Judge Troy B. Braswell Jr. signed a second warrant Sept. 15 for First Security Bank records tied to an account in Self’s name, including statements from April 11 through Sept. 10. That warrant cites theft of property.

“Given the complexity of these incidents and the amount of different funds that were affected,” Cortes wrote, bank records could show whether the missing money was deposited into her account.

Braswell also ordered the bank not to disclose the warrant to Self or anyone else, finding that notice could lead to destruction of evidence or otherwise jeopardize the investigation.

According to returns filed with the court, detectives served the school warrant Sept. 14 and the bank warrant Sept. 16. They received two files from the district and one from the bank, all by email. Both returns were filed with the Faulkner County Circuit Clerk’s office Sept. 22.

Conway Public Schools did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Self could not be reached for comment.