• Trusted Rotorua school PTA treasurer stole thousands of dollars intended for school projects
• Giovanna Cleworth transferred PTA money to her account and failed to deposit fundraised cash
• The school is “severely impacted” by the thefts and the PTA is “broken”, leaders say.

Thousands of dollars from a Rotorua school’s raffle, large sums of cash from a disco and payments supposedly for meat and groceries were instead directed to a school treasurer’s account.

St Mary’s Catholic School PTA treasurer Giovanna Cleworth was in a position of trust but instead, she stole more than $15,000 over two years in the role.

Cleworth appeared in the Rotorua District Court yesterday - the morning her trial had been set to begin - and admitted two representative charges of accessing a computer system for dishonest purposes and theft by a person in a special relationship. A representative charge means the offending happened more than once.

Her name suppression lapsed upon her guilty verdicts.

Rotorua Courthouse was where Giovanna Cleworth appeared on financial charges relating to St Mary's yesterday. Photo / NZME

PTA chairwoman Jenny McGowan-Devery told the Rotorua Daily Post after Cleworth’s court appearance the team felt “broken” they put their trust in her.

School principal David Macmillan said after the court appearance Cleworth, who was known by her married name Giovanna Fredricksen during her time on the PTA, had “severely impacted our school”.

A summary of facts in the case released to the Rotorua Daily Post said Cleworth was the school’s PTA treasurer from September 2018 to June 2023.

The summary said the PTA was a “completely trust-based system”. Elected members were trusted to conduct themselves with integrity and no background checks were completed.

Cleworth’s role was to deposit money fundraised from school events into the PTA bank account. She had “complete control” over the finances including the PTA’s ANZ Authenticator app account, which was used to set up transactions and pay bills, the summary said.

Intended as a security measure,co-signatories also had access to the app.

Cleworth’s offending

Between December 15, 2020 and January 30 2023, Cleworth made 12 fraudulent transactions from the St Mary’s PTA bank account into her account.

Cleworth would load the account receiving the funds and the name of the recipient, then message co-signatories for their approval to authorise the payment using the application.

This happened 12 times for transactions totalling $7802.85.

The 12 transactions ranged from $148.50 to $1529.50 for recipients given names such as “Mad Butch”, “Hunt4Lun”, “Gmores”, “Juices”, “4sq” and “Paknsav”.

The summary said the transactions were approved by co-signatories who thought the funds were paid to legitimate suppliers and not directly into Cleworth’s bank account.

Cleworth’s also twice told the PTA she had deposited funds into its account that never appeared, totalling $7442.23.

PTA minutes showed she told an October 2021 meeting she had deposited $3000 from a raffle into the PTA account, then told a December 2022 meeting that she would deposit $4442.23 in profit, expenses and float from a disco.

In both cases, the deposits did not appear on bank statements, the money was never accounted for and Cleworth did not have permission to take it.

When police interviewed Cleworth, she refused to answer any questions.

The summary said police were seeking reparation of $15,245.08 for fraudulent transactions and missing cash. Cleworth had previously appeared before the court.

Name suppression

In court, Cleworth’s lawyer, Casey Treanor, asked Judge John Bergseng for Cleworth’s name suppression to continue until sentencing to allow her time to tell her children.

Judge Bergseng refused and Treanor asked for a shorter period of suppression.

“That’s not a runner with me,” Judge Bergseng said. “These are charges that had a first appearance in September 2023 so there has been more than adequate time for that discussion to have taken place.”

He remanded her on bail for sentencing on September 13.

The school reacts

Macmillan told the Rotorua Daily Post the school felt saddened and let down, and Cleworth’s offending was a “significant breach of trust” for the PTA, staff and wider school community, particularly the children.

“Our PTA does an outstanding job supporting our school to ensure equitable learning experiences for all our children. It is a shame that the actions of one individual have so severely impacted our school.”

Macmillan said the PTA was an “extremely hard-working” group, tirelessly providing fundraising opportunities such as the school gala, colour fun runs, discos, mothers’ and fathers’ day stalls and weekly sausage sizzles.

St Mary's Catholic School in Rotorua. Photo / Kelly Makiha

The PTA had helped the school buy shade sails, playground surfacing, decodable readers and classroom sound systems.

It was raising funds to repair and replace the school’s turf but Macmillan said that project was on hold as a “direct” result of the missing money.

“Parent volunteers are essential to the operation of our school. Although this one individual has let us down, we have full confidence in the supportive members of our PTA and appreciate all the work they do within our school.”

PTA members ‘broken’

McGowan-Devery, who attended yesterday’s court hearing alongside four other PTA representatives, said the PTA had learned a lot from what happened.

“We are broken. There wasn’t one of us who couldn’t have walked out of that courtroom yesterday and burst into tears. We look for the best in people all the time. This is where we probably shot ourselves in the foot.”

She said the PTA worked so hard and she hoped the actions of one person would not discourage people from continuing to be generous with their support and donations.

“I just want to reassure people that, moving forward, we are still working for the same vision.”

Former PTA chairwoman Rebecca Heson, who attended yesterday’s hearing, said it had been upsetting for everyone.

“We are a group of parents who come together with a shared common vision.”

Heson said Cleworth had also become a friend to many on the PTA.

“We are obviously disappointed and shocked. It’s upsetting for us… We have all worked hard to raise money and it hasn’t gone back to the children and that’s the most disappointing thing.”

Since the theft was discovered, Heson said processes had been put in place to prevent it from happening again.

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.