A Florida teen handed out $13,500 to her classmates, and investigators say the stolen funds came from her grandma’s safe.
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The philanthropic effort took place Thursday at the Lake Wier Middle School in Summerfield before deputies received a call about the funds. School officials said they searched the girl’s backpack, finding $2,500, and added that the student claimed that a former student gave her the money. Later that day, investigators said they determined she had broken into her grandma’s safe and stolen $13,500 of her life savings.
However, the motive for the theft is unclear, and officials recovered approximately $700 from other students. In addition to the $2,500, the money was returned to the girl’s grandmother.
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Authorities say the girl is facing a grand theft charge for breaking into her grandmother’s safe. While speaking to investigators, the girl confessed to using a screwdriver to break into her grandmother’s safe and taking a stack of 20 dollar bills, then handing out the money during a school trip,
“She advised she took a stack of 20 dollar bills the size of about 6 inches out of the safe.”
School officials released a statement to parents about the theft and asked for the return of the money as soon as possible.
“We would like to recover this money for the grandparents. If you speak with your children and if they have received money from the student, please turn it in to our school resource officers.”
A parent who spoke to KDFW said her daughter told her about the situation after the teen attempted to give her money at school.
“That’s when she was like, ‘Yeah, mom! The child did come up to me and ask me if I wanted $100. And she said, ‘No, it’s got to be stolen, I don’t want nothing to do with it. I really hope it gets recovered, because that’s so devastating. I feel really bad for the family,”