Woman pleads guilty to stealing scholarship funds

By Tim Velder, Journal staff | Friday, November 14, 2008

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DEADWOOD -- A former Lead-Deadwood High School secretary told a Lawrence County judge Thursday she is guilty of 12 counts of embezzlement charges against her.

Donna Marie Quenzer, 49, made the plea just days before her trial on those charges was set to begin on Monday, Nov. 17. Sentencing has been set for Jan. 8.

According to documents filed with the Lawrence County Clerk of Courts, investigators connected Quenzer with cash withdrawals from school trust accounts. Quenzer, who resigned from the school April 14, said she used the money for personal reasons.

She was arrested twice this year on separate indictments related to misappropriated scholarship funds from the school. The cases were combined in September.

Money, amounting to $108,000, was taken from various groups -- the Lead-Deadwood Women's Club, Brust Memorial Scholarship, Deadwood High School Reunion Scholarship, the Helen Morganti Scholarship, Margaret Stabio Memorial, the Robert Krug Scholarship, the Roger Rotter Scholarship, the John C. Finola Memorial, the Rena Dunn Scholarship and the Arthur Groenwald Memorial -- all school-managed funds. Quenzer said she siphoned more than $40,000 from the Brust Memorial as the largest amount from a single account.

The thefts are believed to have occurred as far back as June 2002 and as recently as last April.

School officials became aware of the mismanagement of some scholarship funds earlier this spring. The district began an investigation into the matter and, after conversations with several individuals and a review of the funds in question, the matter was handed over to local law enforcement investigators.

During her plea hearing, Quenzer answered "guilty" to each count and recited the amount she took from each fund.

The plea agreement stipulates that Quenzer could be given concurrent sentences for the first 11 counts and a consecutive sentence on the 12th, for the Helen Morganti Scholarship.

Lawrence County State's Attorney John Fitzgerald said that count was being held as a reserve sentence if Quenzer had not repaid the full restitution by the end of her sentence on the other 11 counts.

Macy ordered Quenzer to pay $25,000 in restitution before her sentencing date. Fitzgerald said he agreed to bring no more charges in the case, including forgery charges connected with the transactions.