A former assistant principal and athletic director was arrested Tuesday for allegedly stealing money from a school, Fayetteville police said.
Darren A. Handley, 48, of Fayetteville, was charged with two counts of theft by taking fiduciary, and more charges are expected, according to Lt. Mike Whitlow.
Handley has resigned from his job at Fayette County High School, where he worked for two years, and is no longer employed by the county’s school system, a spokeswoman said.
“The discrepancies were discovered by the school’s administration earlier in June and turned over to the Fayetteville Police Department,” Melinda Berry-Dreisbach, district spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement. “The school system has been cooperating with the police department’s investigation into this matter.”
Investigators have not determined how much money is missing from the school’s accounts, Whitlow told Channel 2 Action News.
“Some of the instances were just very obvious,” Whitlow said. “There’s an unspoken binding agreement that you will take care of their money legally and not steal it, and so when you violate that trust, that’s why this is a felony crime.”
Handley was being held in the Fayette County jail Tuesday night without bond.
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