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Tredyffrin-Easttown School Official Charged With Stealing Gas Pump Fill-ups

By Brad Segall

TREDYFFRIN, Pa. (CBS) -- Drivers feel the pain every time they fill up at the pump but, according to police, there were no gas pains for Toni Pulcini.  The former school district official in Chester County is free on $5,000 bail after being charged with using taxpayer money to buy gasoline for her personal car.

Police say Pulcini, the former transportation supervisor in the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District, was using the district's gas card to fill the tank on her personal vehicles.  And the charges came to more than $8,000 in a year.

"You're the victim in a crime like this, because any person that's a taxpayer pays their local taxes, their property taxes -- that's where that would normally come from," says Tredyffrin Police detective sergeant Todd Bereda.

Pulcini, 60, who now lives in the Easton, Pa. area, is facing more than 150 counts of "access device fraud" along with charges of theft and receiving stolen property.

Bereda says an audit turned up the unusual activity on the card.

"She did retire," he tells KYW Newsradio, "and the school district conducted their due diligence and auditing with the transfer of positions, and they were able to discern that there was a large anomaly.  And they contacted us as soon as they found that."

He says the money has already been paid back to the school district.

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