HILLTOWN – A former Pennridge PTO official faces nearly a dozen felony charges for allegedly forging organization checks made out to herself and her boyfriend totaling more than $20,000.
It is not the first time she has been accused of stealing money, according to court records. She was convicted in 2011 of embezzling more than $400,000 from her employer.
Hilltown police opened an investigation into the alleged thefts in June 2023 after current and former PTO board members from JM Grasse Elementary School reported they were notified the organization’s checking account was overdrawn.
The PTO board members said it appeared their former treasurer, Jacqueline Bucco, 46, of Telford, stole the money, according to a probable cause affidavit. She was treasurer from September 2021 until June 2023, police said.
The executives alleged that Bucco was not authorized to sign checks for the account, according to the affidavit.
Police allege an investigation found canceled checks for the PTO account written out to Bucco and her boyfriend. The checks allegedly contained more than 100 forged signatures of authorized signers.
Some of the checks included captions directing the money for “deposit only” into personal bank accounts for Bucco or her boyfriend, according to the affidavit.
Bucco allegedly did not provide the PTO with receipts, transaction ledgers, treasurer reports or expense reports showing why the checks were written, the affidavit said.
Among the alleged thefts was money the collected in a bingo fundraiser in March, 2023, the affidavit said.
After the event, Bucco allegedly took the cash raised to deposit in the PTO account, but there is no record the money was deposited, the affidavit said.
Surveillance video allegedly shows Bucco making multiple cash deposits at the Truist drive-through on the Monday after the bingo fundraiser. Bank records show a $1,002 cash deposit was made that day into her boyfriend’s account, the affidavit said.
In a police interview, Bucco denied the forgery allegations, according to the affidavit.
She told police she deposited $4,386 in the PTO account, but could not explain why there was no record of it, and accused a bank employee of stealing the money, the affidavit said.
Through the investigation police found a $4,150 deposit that Bucco made on June 12, 2023, after the overdrawn account was discovered, the affidavit said.
Bucco explained that she borrowed $4,000 from her employer and deposited it into the PTO account after the board learned about the missing money.
When she was working for Dow Jones more than a decade ago, Bucco was convicted of stealing $429,210 from the New Jersey company, according to a U.S. Attorney's Office New Jersey press release and confirmed by Hilltown Police Chief Chris Engelhart.
Bucco pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and she was sentenced to serve 24 months in federal prison, according to a press release.
She was also ordered to make full restitution. The Bucks County prothonotary office has a copy of the restitution order, which was transferred to Pennsylvania in 2012. It was not immediately known Friday if any money has been repaid.
Bucco was working as a fulfillment staff assistant at the company’s Monmouth Junction office when started transferring money she discovered in a dormant internal system into three bank accounts she controlled, according to the release.
Bucco spent the money on personal items including a Harley Davidson Sportster motorcycle, Coach, Salvatore Ferragamo and Louis Vuitton accessories, electronics, gaming system, cellphones, guitars, a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes, and a wedding dress, according to federal investigators.
Bucco was arraigned May 29 on the Pennridge charges before District Judge Regina Armitage on 11 felonies including multiple counts of forgery, theft and receiving stolen property.
She was released on unsecured bail and had no attorney listed as of May 30, according to the docket.