A principal’s discovery of cash missing from Fern Elementary School’s petty cash box touched off an investigation that uncovered the theft of nearly $15,000 by a school secretary over a 2 1⁄2-year period, said Kevin Takata, deputy state attorney general.

The now-former secretary, Williamina Muranaka, pleaded guilty in state court Thursday to 13 counts of theft and bribery.

Because of the thefts, Takata said the Kalihi school was forced to cancel student programs and activities.

"What she took was educational experiences that cannot be replaced. She took life experiences that cannot be relived," he said.

Muranaka admits she made a terrible mistake and is going to do her best to pay the money back and do whatever else she can to restore herself in the eyes of the community, said Susan Arnett, deputy public defender.

"The money wasn’t used for vacations or cars or anything extra in life. It was used for the basic necessities," Arnett said.

Muranaka, 44, faces up to 10 years in prison when she is sentenced in July. However, under the terms of a plea agreement, the state will recommend probation, including one year in jail, if she pays back, before sentencing, the $14,818 she stole.

The bribery charge is for Muranaka accepting gift cards worth more than $2,000 from Reliable Printing Solutions for ordering printer/toner cartridges for the school at exorbitant prices, Takata said.

One of the theft charges is for Muranaka stealing $5,583 in cash between November 2008 and June 2010 from various school accounts, which held donations and money from book fairs and fundraisers.

Three other theft charges are for checks totaling $1,045 she wrote in June 2010 on the school’s account to reimburse her son for school supplies for which there were no purchase orders or receipts.

The other theft charges are for checks she wrote from December 2007 to May 2010 totaling $8,190 to the Hawaii Public Housing Authority to pay her rent at Kuhio Homes in Kalihi. One charge is for attempted theft because an $832 rent check she wrote in August 2010 bounced.

The HPHA says agency officials don’t know how tenants pay their rent because the payments are made at the banks designated for the particular housing projects.

The DOE fired Muranaka on March 28, 2011. However, Arnett said Muranaka’s last day on the job as a school administrative services assistant was in August 2010.

She is the fourth former public school employee and the third secretary to admit stealing thousands of dollars of school money in less than two years.

Janel Echiberi was granted a deferral of her guilty pleas to theft and forgery charges and ordered to perform 450 hours of community service for stealing more than $13,000 from Lehua Elementary.

Denise Hayashi was ordered to pay more than $20,000 in fines, court costs and fees and perform 1,500 hours of community service for stealing more than $68,000 from Pearl Ridge Elementary.

Warren Harada, former Waipahu High School business manager, is scheduled to be sentenced later this month for stealing nearly $500,000.

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