$100K Stolen By Former McKeel Academy Administrator: Sheriff

LAKELAND, FL — A former assistant director at Lakeland's McKeel Academy of Technology faces a long list of criminal charges after Polk County deputies say she masterminded an elaborate scheme to bilk more than $100,000 from the school’s accounts.

According to the sheriff’s office, Ginger Collins, 45, was charged in the case on Tuesday, Jan. 10. Collins, a Lakeland resident, faces grand theft, fraud, fraudulent use of a credit card and money laundering charges. She was also charged with three counts of criminal use of personal identification.

Deputies say Collins resigned from her position at the school on Sept. 16, 2016, after she was confronted by about the alleged “theft and fraudulent accounting scheme.” An affidavit filed by the sheriff’s office said that Collins “confessed to the theft, fraudulent activity and intentionally altering invoices when confronted before her resignation.”

Collins was hired by the school in July 2015, the report said, and worked at its 1810 W. Parker St. location. During her time at the school, Collins had access to five credit card accounts that belong to the Schools of McKeel Academy. Deputies say she used the accounts for personal gain and then wrote “legacy funds” and “marketing” on receipts she turned in. School officials, however, said they could not attribute the purchases to specific programs or classes. Those receipts prompted the school to dig deeper into Collins alleged activities, the criminal affidavit said.

“The incident prompted additional auditing during which significant discrepancies were documented,” the report said. “A detailed review of the defendant’s expenses confirmed Ginger Collins initially stole more than $47,000 from her employer.”

Collins is also accused of creating three phony companies: Elite Travel, Finpeda and Atticusprint.

“Ginger Collins then used different credit card processing sites to bill and invoice The Schools of McKeel Academy for fictitious products or services,” the report said. “SquareUp and PayPay were initially used for payment processing, and the service of Stripe was later added to avoid suspicion and detection.”

Deputies also say Collins also set up fake PayPal accounts using the names of three McKeel Academy employees without their knowledge. This was done, the affidavit claims, “to avoid routing numerous transactions through the same vendor. All of these PayPal accounts were linked to the defendant by her email records and telephone number.”

Payments sent to the three companies were routed to a joint SunTrust account Collins owns with her two children, the affidavit said.

“A confirmed trail has been documented from the five McKeel Academy credit cards issued to the defendant, through her self-created companies, and into her joint SunTrust bank account,” the affidavit said. After money hit the SunTrust account, deputies say Collins transferred it to her personal checking account. “Bank records show these funds were used to buy clothing, pay personal bills, purchase home furnishings and make personal credit card payments.”

All told, Collins is accused of taking more than $105,000 from the school. She was booked into the Polk County Jail following her Tuesday arrest.

Booking photo courtesy of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office