A former Fern Elementary School secretary is scheduled to plead guilty Thursday to stealing more than $14,000 from the Kalihi school, including writing school checks to pay her rent in public housing.
Williamina Muranaka is charged with 13 counts of theft and one of bribery. The state filed the charges last week.
Muranaka has agreed to plead guilty and repay the school $14,818, according to documents submitted by the state attorney general.
The attorney general says Muranaka wrote nine checks from the school’s account in amounts of $642 to $1,743 to the Hawaii Public Housing Authority to pay her rent at Kuhio Homes in Kalihi.
Muranaka was working as a school administrative services assistant at Fern when she allegedly committed the crimes. The state Department of Education said it fired her March 28, 2011.
Housing Authority Chief Planner Nick Birck said authority officials don’t see the checks tenants submit to pay rent because the payments are made at the bank designated for that housing project. The bank then deposits the money into HPHA’s account.
The attorney general said Muranaka also wrote three checks to her son totaling $1,045 that she had claimed was reimbursement for supplies he purchased for a cooking class that he instructed briefly. However, the attorney general said the son also bought numerous items for personal use and that Muranaka did not have the purchase orders or receipts to substantiate the reimbursement.
Muranaka also stole at least $5,583 in cash from various school bank accounts, money the school collected in donations and from book fairs and fundraisers, the attorney general said.
The bribery charge alleges that Muranaka accepted gift cards worth more than $2,000 and candy from Reliable Printing Solutions for ordering overpriced printer/toner cartridges from the company. Muranaka is expected to enter a guilty plea to the bribery charge without admitting she committed the bribery.
Bribery is a Class B felony, the most serious of the charges, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
According to the terms of her plea agreement with the state, if Muranaka repays the school the $14,818 before sentencing, the attorney general will recommend a five-year probation sentence, the first year of which will be served in jail. If she does not repay the money by sentencing, the state will be free to recommend up to a 10-year prison term.
