Shawnee Mission schools employee spent stolen funds on clothes, meals, gas: affidavit
A former Shawnee Mission School District employee is accused of making 174 unauthorized charges on the district’s credit card, purchasing clothes, meals and gas, according to an affidavit filed in court.
Mikita L. Watson-Burton, 42, is charged with felony theft in Johnson County District Court.
She was hired by the school district as the secretary of elementary services in July 2017 and made purchases for the district’s 33 elementary schools.
In August 2018, another employee discovered odd expenditures on the credit credit, which triggered an internal audit, according to court documents.
The district found purchases for women’s clothing, meals and gas from Amazon, Walmart, HyVee, Olive Garden and Chick-Fil-A.
There were also five payments to community colleges. An Overland Park detective confirmed the payments were for Watson-Burton’s child, the affidavit said.
The purchases totaled more than $12,500.
Watson-Burton left the job in August.
In January, she met with the detective and admitted to making the purchases. She said the credit card information was saved on a computer and would auto-fill when she was checking out without her noticing.
She had no explanation for off-site purchases made with the district’s credit card, the affidavit said.
Watson-Burton also denied approving her own expenditure reports, which were supposed to be signed off on by a director at the end of each month.
