Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Former Food Service Director Gets Probation

A former employee of the Prescott School District has been found guilty on eight counts of forgery.

Lisa Renea Crow entered a plea of guilty on all counts Thursday, Oct. 26. She received a 5 year probation and must pay $250 per count, plus court costs.

Crow faced a possible sentence of three to 10 years per charge, along with a fine up to $10,000.

She was charged with the forgeries of eight checks from the Prescott School Lunch Fund. The forgeries occurred from Nov. 11, 1994 to June 8, 1995.

Five of the checks were cashed at the Nevada County Branch Bank of Delight, while three were cashed at the First National Bank of Hope.

According to court reports, the local bank spotted the discrepancies in the checks and notified Prescott School Superintendent Don Johnston.

Johnston contacted the Arkansas State Police after first getting in touch with state auditors. ASP investigators determined the checks to have been forges, and Crow was called in for questioning.

She had been in charge of the checkbook for the school lunch fund at the time the checks had been written. During the questioning, Crow admitted forging the checks.

She was represented by Travis Berry, with the Arkadelphia law firm of Wright, Chaney, Berry and Daniel.

The sentence was on the recommendation of Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Danny Rodgers, with the consent of the victim (the Prescott School District).