it's almost like the perfect storm that
is how this longtime educator describes
why her elementary school got mixed up
in a false billing scam it was just a
crazy hectic time of year with expansion
new building three locations new
secretaries so what an invoice for just
over six hundred dollars came in from a
known vendor it was just paid at that
point just seeing the name of the
company which is one that we had been
buying from and a small invoice for you
know less than a thousand it really got
overlooked this school was not alone
postal inspectors say robert armstrong
sent out more than 77,000 false invoices
the former school administrator who had
lost his job knew exactly how schools
operated it appeared that he knew when
to send the invoices so that they would
get mixed in with the summer ordering so
that the invoices would get passed
through the system a little bit easier
than they would if there was more of a
closer eye looking at the invoices like
saying februari there were more than
650,000 dollars in losses from over
1,000 schools postal inspectors say the
most important lesson is for all
businesses to have a specified series of
checks and balances Debbie says her
school has the right system but the bill
came at a challenging time now she knows
better never be too busy or too much in
a hurry to not take the time to really
look at something that's going to cost
you money