CLEVELAND — A former Lyndhurst school administrative assistant accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a fundraiser for a principal who was dying of cancer has been indicted by a grand jury on a slew of felony charges, Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas records show.
Stacie LaRiccia, 40, was indicted Tuesday on the following charges:
- Grand theft
- Theft
- Theft in office
- Tampering with records
LaRiccia was arrested in March after Lyndhurst police said LaRiccia, the administrative assistant for former Brush High School Michael Fording, organized a 5K fundraiser for Fording in October 2023. Fording was battling colon cancer and died a month after the fundraiser.
According to a website for the fundraiser, the nearly $40,000 raised was supposed to be donated to Fording's family and University Hospitals for cancer research.
According to a police report, University Hospitals never received a donation. Financial records showed most of the money was spent on food and entertainment, police said. One of Fording's daughters told 3News the family did receive a portion of the proceeds.
According to court documents, a grand jury charged LaRiccia with stealing $36,668 from the Fording family and $4,135 from Brush High School and/or the South Euclid School District. The grand jury also charged with unlawfully falsifying school district records.
LaRiccia was initially charged in Lyndhurst Municipal Court before her case was bound over to the county common pleas court.
Another individual, 27-year-old Malik Lozada, was charged as a co-defendant with receiving stolen property. Court records show the jurors found Lozada allegedly "did receive retain, or dispose of ... approximately $1,447.00, the property of Brush High SChool and/or South Euclid Lyndhurst School District."
LaRiccia and Lozada are scheduled to be arraigned on June 24.
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