A former business manager at Westside Academy, a Columbus charter school on Clime Road North in the Hilltop area, siphoned off nearly $500,000 through fake vendor payments, bogus tuition reimbursements and personal credit card spending, including a hotel room she billed for 66 consecutive days. Michelle Scott, who worked at the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school from 2012 until she resigned in September 2022, pleaded guilty in March to second-degree felony theft and is now serving a prison sentence tied to the scheme.
The losses were detailed in a new report from the Ohio Auditor of State, which said its Special Investigations Unit opened its probe in March 2023 after receiving a complaint alleging potential fraud by Scott, according to a release from the Ohio Auditor of State. That complaint, filed by Heather O'Bannon, alleged suspected theft, and investigators say they ultimately identified unauthorized payments, personal purchases, tuition reimbursements and credit-card transactions tied to Scott's time as business manager. O'Bannon said Scott “betrayed the trust placed in her as Westside Academy's business manager, causing significant harm to our school and depriving our students of valuable educational resources,” according to NBC4 WCMH-TV, which first reported on the audit's findings.
How the Money Disappeared
According to the state audit, as reported by NBC4, redirected vendor payments totaled nearly $270,000, with $162,000 of that recorded as payments to a company called FuelEd, which provides online foreign language courses. Investigators found that bank routing and account information had been altered to direct those FuelEd payments into an account owned by Scott herself, the outlet's report states. Separately, Westside Academy's own civil complaint against Scott, filed via Trellis Law, alleges she fabricated purchase orders from a vendor for services never rendered and routed payments to an account that did not actually belong to that vendor — identified in the complaint as Fuel Education, later renamed K12 Management.
That civil complaint points to specific transactions: a $23,500 transfer to K12 Management on July 14, 2022, and a $17,500 payment authorized on January 27, 2023 — after Scott had already left the school. The audit, per NBC4's report, similarly notes Westside Academy attempted a $17,500 payment to FuelEd in January 2023 that the vendor reported never arrived. The overlapping amounts and dates in the civil complaint and the audit point to the same alleged diversion scheme, even though the two records use different names for the vendor.
Credit Cards, Tuition Claims and a 66-Day Hotel Stay
Beyond the vendor payments, the audit found Scott spent roughly $53,600 on personal purchases using a school credit card and altered credit card statements to conceal those expenses, per the same report. In one instance, investigators said she changed a hotel charge to make it appear as a Micro Center purchase instead. The audit also found she charged a hotel room at the Nationwide Conference Center for 66 consecutive days, NBC4 reported.
Tuition reimbursements added roughly $115,600 to the total, according to the audit's findings as described by NBC4. Investigators determined those reimbursements did not meet Westside Academy's requirements, and that most of the reimbursed courses did not even appear on Scott's University of Phoenix transcript. The school reportedly kept issuing tuition reimbursement payments even after Scott had withdrawn from the university.
Weak Oversight Let the Scheme Continue
The audit concluded that inadequate internal controls and insufficient management oversight allowed the schemes to continue largely unchecked, according to NBC4's reporting. Investigators found Scott could both initiate and authorize electronic bank transfers despite a school policy requiring director approval, and that she made credit card purchases and processed payments without review from other employees or management.
To prevent similar losses in the future, the audit recommended separating those financial duties among different staff members, instituting regular board review of bank statements, credit card statements and spending reports, and enforcing tuition reimbursement rules with better purchase documentation, per the same report.
Restitution, Sentencing and a Shared Legal Burden
The Ohio Auditor of State issued findings for recovery against Scott totaling more than $480,000, according to the audit as reported by NBC4 — a figure that includes more than $363,000 in criminal restitution and more than $116,000 tied to improper tuition reimbursements, tax penalties and interest. A finding for recovery identifies public money that was improperly spent or is still owed and allows for legal action to collect it. Scott and Western Surety Company, which issued her bond, are jointly and severally liable for those findings, the audit states.
Scott pleaded guilty to second-degree felony theft in March, and the Ohio Auditor of State's release says the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas sentenced her to four years in prison, followed by two years of community control. As of the audit, she had paid just $3,000 toward her court-ordered restitution.
The case echoes other recent findings from the Ohio Auditor of State's Special Investigations Unit involving charter schools. A former employee of a separate Columbus charter school was arraigned on multiple criminal charges last year following an SIU investigation, and was later sentenced to four years in prison after admitting to stealing public resources, per releases from the Ohio Auditor of State. The auditor's office has also issued findings for recovery against operators of a closed Cincinnati charter school.
