COVINGTON, Ga. — A Georgia woman is accused of defrauding the private school she worked for for five years, then quitting when the school told her it was moving to a new location.
The Covington Police Department said Nicole Baker worked for Peachtree Academy.
Her time with the company ended in March, when Baker told her boss she was leaving before the school moved to a new spot in Conyers.
A representative for Peachtree called police when they discovered fraudulent charges on the company credit card.
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According to a police report, Baker misused the company’s credit card for food, DoorDash deliveries, Walmart purchases, Chick-fil-A orders, a Prime Video subscription, baby clothes, a pressure washer and many more miscellaneous items, all for herself and not the company.
When school personnel reviewed the credit card transactions, some dating as far back as May 5, 2024, they found she’d spent more than $57,500 on the myriad purchases.
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Baker is accused of fraudulently charging up to $30,608 as well, according to police.
On top of the unauthorized credit card purchases, school officials told police there was about $44,400 in cash missing that Baker is allegedly responsible for.
The school representative told police that “Baker would sometimes not charge parents that she favored or would clean out other families’ bank accounts.”
When she quit in March, Baker is accused of taking notebooks, cash receipt books and other items belonging to Peachtree Academy. School staff said this made it difficult to fully ascertain how much cash Baker took.
Police said the school told them they believed Baker had left her job after five years “because she was going to have to work with the finance director at the new location.”
While police investigated, the school told them Baker had already signed a note acknowledging the credit card fraud.
Arrest warrants were issued on July 10 charging Baker with 407 counts of unauthorized use of financial transaction fraud.
On Wednesday, she was arrested at her home on those arrest warrants.
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