A Plant City man has been arrested for allegedly spending over $9,800 of the Kathleen High School Athletic Booster Club's money.
Aaron Wilborn, 33, was arrested Tuesday, July 26, by the Polk County Sheriff's Office. He was charged with one count of scheming to defraud, and one count of grand theft.
Wilborn, an employee of Merlin Entertainment in Orlando, is the former president of the Polk County school's athletic booster club. He was asked to step down from the position in 2015, after other board members suspected that he was misusing funds meant for the school.
Wilborn used the club's credit card to spend over $9,800 in 334 transactions from 2014 to 2015. The funds were used for fuel, food and personal transactions, including movie tickets, rental cars, entertainment activity in Orlando and Tampa and payment on Wilborn's personal bills.
Many of Wilborn's expenses were less than $15. Typically, documented high school athletic team food purchases for the school would be in excess of $50. Wilborn also did not submit requisition forms, which employees and volunteers of the school submit with receipts to justify a purchase or complete prior to purchase. Traditionally, such requisition forms are used for trophies, uniforms and other supplies.
Wilborn admitted during a non-custodial interview that he used the club's card to pay his Sprint and Geico bills, in addition to fuel, food and entertainment purposes.
Wilborn stated that he thought he was owed the payments, since he used his personal car and phone for club-related activities. He also stated that he frequently paid for food and movies for some of the students. However, Kathleen High School employees stated that Wilborn was not permitted to take students off-campus for food or entertainment at any time.
Wilborn's charges on the club's credit card include over $3,400 in unauthorized fuel purchases, over $1,100 in Sprint telephone bills, over $100 for movie rentals and theater visits, over $1,230 in hotel stays and rental cars, over $890 in food transactions and over $2,600 in ATM withdraws and associated fees.
The card was also used for entertainment and recreation, with purchases at Burlington, Journeys, Orlando's FunSpot and Tampa's Airheads Trampoline.
Kathleen High School sustained a monetary loss of $9,847.74.
After his July 26 arrest, Wilborn was released from jail after posting a $2,000 bond. The bond was $1,000 for each of his two charges.
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.