Former elementary principal pleads guilty to stealing money from school
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The following is a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho on Tuesday.
POCATELLO – Brenda Honena, 52, of Blackfoot pleaded guilty today in United States District Court to the theft of money from the Fort Hall Elementary School in 2012, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.
Honena was indicted by the federal grand jury in Pocatello on February 23, 2016.
In 2012, officials in the Blackfoot School District #55 discovered that certain suppliers for fundraisers held at the Fort Hall Elementary School had not been paid. An investigation revealed that $9,463.51 of money from fundraisers held at the school was missing. Honena was then employed as the principal at the school. She initially denied taking the money but in a later interview with special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, she admitted taking the money and being responsible for the missing $9,463.51. Honena admitted she spent the money for her personal use and did so without authorization.
The federal court has jurisdiction over this case because the Blackfoot School District #55 receives federal funding for its operations. The charge of theft from an organization receiving federal funds is punishable by up to ten years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
Honena is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 8, 2016, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fort Hall Police Department.