More than $350,000 was taken from two public Fulton County charter schools with ties to the man police named as a suspect when more than $600,000 went missing from an Atlanta charter school.
Money from Fulton County’s Latin Grammar School and Latin College Preparatory School was transferred to a nonprofit foundation created by Chris Clemons, the founder of all three schools. And cash was withdrawn from ATMs, including one with the same address as a strip club, according to bank statements obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution under Georgia’s Open Records Act.
The Fulton County charter schools, which did not authorize payments to Clemons or his nonprofit, are cooperating with a police investigation, Latin Grammar School board chairman Eric Banister said.
Clemons, who has not been charged with a crime, had access to bank accounts at the Fulton charter schools, Banister said. Banister declined to answer questions about who else had access.
Clemons has not responded to phone and email messages from the AJC.
Atlanta police began an investigation into the $600,000 missing from Atlanta's Latin Academy in July when board members at that school reported the money stolen through ATM withdrawals and to pay for dinners, non-work-related travel, bonuses to employees and "personal entertainment at local night clubs," a police report says.
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