A Valparaiso woman is facing a felony theft charge after, according to charging documents, she stole at least $3,200 from the Valparaiso Band Parents Association over the course of three years.
Solitaire Johnson, 48, is charged with a Level 6 felony for using a VBPA PayPal account for personal purchases including groceries and other goods at two retail merchants, according to the charges.
The charges were filed Thursday and she was booked into Porter County Jail Friday. She has since bonded out after posting a $1,500 cash bond, according to online records.
Johnson was treasurer for the VBPA from around 2010 until her resignation in December. A new president and secretary were recently elected and noticed unusual transactions with the nonprofit’s bank accounts, according to the charges.
“When they inquired about the irregularities to Solitaire, they did not receive cooperation with reviewing the accounts and law enforcement became involved,” documents state.
During an interview at the Valparaiso Police Department on Dec. 2, “Johnson admitted using a PayPal debit card, which was linked to VBPA bank accounts, for personal expenses during her tenure as treasurer,” documents note.
Johnson reportedly admitted to police that she made around $2,000 worth of personal purchases on the VBPA PayPal debit card but claimed to have paid back $600 to $700 of the transactions by making VBPA-related purchases out of her own account at a later time.
Johnson also referred to personal purchases made with the debit card at a hotel in Kentucky while coming back from Florida, at grocery stores and for fuel purchases, documents state. Johnson told police she shops for groceries at Town and Country in Valparaiso and Walmart.
Police said in court documents that they reviewed records from the VBPA PayPal debit card, focusing on purchases at those two stores, and got itemized receipts for the purchases from both retailers as well.
Johnson allegedly made the transactions in 2020, 2021 and 2022, according to the charges, and after the VBPA president and secretary reviewed the receipts, “they indicated that none of the purchases appeared to be legitimate transactions for the VBPA.”
Using a spreadsheet to total the transactions from just the two stores, police determined the purchases with the debit card were “(at least) $1,037.77 in 2022, (at least) $1,401.55 in 2021, and (at least) $763.95 in 2020,” documents state.
Additionally, according to the charges, on Dec. 15 Johnson returned VBPA-related items to the board secretary, including a thumb drive with organization files.
“One file, titled ‘Resignation letter,’ detailed why Solitaire was resigning — and contained a written admission of improperly using VBPA funds for personal reasons,” documents state.
An evidentiary hearing has been scheduled for 9 a.m. June 5 before Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer.