A former finance technician at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology will serve 15 months in prison for stealing more than $279,000 from the school.
Susan Litwin, 37, of Woodbridge, will also serve three years of supervised release. She was sentenced by District Judge T.S. Ellis III on Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.
She was also ordered to pay $197,695 in restitution.
Litwin worked as a finance technician at Thomas Jefferson — ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the top public high school in the nation — from January 2007 to March 2010.
She admitted that she stole funds from the Fairfax County magnet school by writing checks to herself and making withdrawals from various Thomas Jefferson bank accounts more than 25 times.
The amounts of the checks and withdrawals ranged from $2,500 to $35,000. Litwin admitted to stealing a total of more than $279,000, according to her plea agreement.
The thefts took place from about March 2008 to January 2010.
As finance technician, Litwin was responsible for receiving and depositing funds from a variety of sources. Those funds were used to support student athletics, classes, clubs and other activities.
When FBI agents questioned Litwin about the thefts, she told them that she used the money to support a gambling habit that included trips to Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J.
She also said that she stole the school’s funds because she had personal financial problems, and she used the money to pay off her credit card debt and for mortgage payments on her home.
Litwin was arrested in March. She pleaded guilty in May to theft from an organization receiving federal funds.
“Susan Litwin betrayed the trust of those who relied on her the most: the students, faculty and fellow administrators at TJHS,” Neil MacBride, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement. “Today’s sentence should warn others that we will hold accountable those who breach the public trust.”
