COLUMBUS – A finding for recovery of $9,746 was issued Tuesday against a former Painesville City Local School District employee, who was convicted of stealing preschool child care fees, Auditor of State Keith Faber announced.

Brenda Kalina pleaded guilty in September 2022 to a felony count of theft in office and has already made full restitution in the case. 

Tuesday’s finding is included in a special audit of the Painesville district covering financial activities from Sept. 1, 2019, through July 31, 2021. A copy of the full report is available online at https://ohioauditor.gov/auditsearch/search.aspx.

Kalina came to the attention of the Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) in August 2021 after receiving a tip on its fraud hotline. SIU determined that Kalina, who worked in various positions for Painesville schools from September 1999 through her termination in August 2021, pocketed $6,323 in preschool child care fees. It was also determined Kalina made 10 unauthorized cash withdrawals totaling $4,600 from the preschool’s parent teacher organization account.

The final finding for recovery against Kalina included $6,323 in favor of the Painesville City Local School District and $3,423 in favor of the Auditor of State’s Office for audit costs.

Kalina made full restitution to the Auditor of State’s Office in December 2022 and to the District in December 2022 and February 2023.

Since 2019, the Special Investigations Unit has assisted in 103 convictions resulting in more than $5 million in restitution (see?Map of SIU Convictions?since January 2019). The team receives hundreds of tips of suspected fraud annually. Tips can be submitted anonymously online or via SIU’s fraud hotline at 866-FRAUD-OH (866-372-8364).

###

The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio is responsible for auditing more than 5,900 state and local government agencies. Under the direction of Auditor Keith Faber, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies, and promotes transparency in government.