NORFOLK — A former Norfolk Public Schools employee was sentenced Friday to nine months in jail for stealing more than $9,000 in fees paid by families of students attending summer school.
Cassandra Meeks-Payton, 55, pleaded guilty in April to a single felony count of embezzlement. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to seek no more than a one-year jail sentence.
Meeks-Payton was hired by Norfolk Public Schools in 2019 to serve as the summer school programs manager. Part of her duties was to collect cash and money order payments for summer classes, and turn the money over to the accounting department, according to prosecutors.
In 2019, the school system expected to collect a total of $42,300 in payments from the 363 students who enrolled that year. Meeks-Payton, however, only handed in $32,830, and pocketed the remaining $9,470, prosecutors said.
Circuit Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. also ordered Meeks-Payton to repay the money. The judge authorized jail officials to consider allowing her to serve her time through work release or on home electronic monitoring, so that she can work toward paying the money she owes.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
