Former Detroit Lakes School Employee Arrested on Three Felony Theft Charges
According to court documents, On September 12, 2024, Detroit Lakes Police Department Chief Steven Todd received a phone call from the Detroit Lakes Public Schools Superintendent reporting theft of funds from Detroit Lakes High School by a recent former employee, Abby Lynn Pettit, 44, of Detroit Lakes. She abruptly resigned from her position earlier that day following questions about missing money.
Pettit had worked at the school for several years as the Administrative Assistant for the Activities & Athletics Department. As part of her job duties, she was the person in charge of collecting and depositing funds paid to the school through fundraisers, concessions, and other payments to athletics and student activities accounts.
Documents say, Investigator Joseph Sternhagen followed up with several school employees, coaches, parents, and other witnesses. Several school activities accounts were identified as missing funds. Inv. Sternhagen met with the school’s Activities Director and Pettit’s supervisor, who stated that Pettit’s theft came to light during the first or second week of school (2024) when the boys’ hockey coach, B.N., told him that he discovered unauthorized transactions and missing money from the hockey “activities account.”
The Activities Director. stated that there were also questions in the Spring of 2024 related to the girls’ basketball account. Only he, the principal, and the two administrative assistants had access to the safe where cash and checks were kept. He mentioned that Pettit also gave out Season Activities Passes (sold to adults for $40 and to students for $6) to her friends, with no payment to the school. The AD provided a list of individuals who received the passes.
Court documents say from October to December of 2023 $1,500 in cash went missing for boys’ hockey warm up gear, and only $7,300 of $12,500 was deposited into the account. And in March of 2024, $4,545 is missing for the boys’ basketball team.
Abby Pettit’s next court appearance is set for June 26th in Becker County.