INSIDE:
COMMUNITY
P. 22 | O P I N I O N
www.ahwatukee.com
IRATE OFFICIAL
.3
P
TU CANDIDATES SPEAK
. 14
P
SENIOR PICKLEBALL
. 22
P
WEATHERING HARD TIMES
. 33
P
P. 26 | B U S I N E S S
P. 29 | S P O RT S
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
P. 33
|CLASSIFIED
@AhwatukeeFN |
P. 37
@AhwatukeeFN
Police: Ex-treasurer stole $61K from Monte Vista PTO BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
T
he former treasurer of the Monte Vista Elementary School PTO faces an initial Superior Court appearance Oct. 1 on two felony charges accusing her of embezzling $61,438 through four different schemes between August 2017 and May 2019. The County Attorney’s office two weeks ago charged Jeani Marie Crosson of Maricopa with one count of theft and one count of fraud schemes following a 10-month investigation by Phoenix Police. Less than two months after she became treasurer on June 1, 2017, police and court records say, Crosson began her alleged schemes and they continued up through mid-May of
last year a few weeks before all new PTO officers took over at the Ahwatukee school on June 1, 2019. Like all PTOs, the Monte Vista group raises its own money through a variety of activities and does not receive any district money. PTOs also are independent organizations and their records are not under the purview of district headquarters or the school principal. The alleged schemes outlined by police are: • Between Aug. 10, 2017, Crosson allegedly made bank teller withdrawals totaling $7,754. • Between Aug. 31, 2017, and May 20, 2019, she allegedly used a PTO debit card to make “multiple unauthorized purchases” totaling $3,601 that included merchandise from Amazon and at least one home water bill. • Between Aug. 30, 2017, and May 6, 2019,
she allegedly made unauthorized withdrawals with her PTO debit card totaling $35,985. Police records say many of the withdrawals were for $500 and $1,000 at a time. • Between Sept. 8, 2017, and May 16, 2019, she allegedly failed to deposit $14,098 in cash into the PTO account. Crosson, who is free pending her initial court appearance, also was a Southwest Food Service cook in the Monte Vista cafeteria during at least part of the alleged crimes. In May 2018, she launched a gofundme.com fundraiser to raise enough money to buy a car for a Monte Vista crossing guard whose three children were students at the school. The crossing guard’s car had numerous problems
see MONTE page 9
Rubber meets a golden road on local man’s websites BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
T
alk to Roger Falcone for a little while and it’s easy to understand how his office on Chandler Boulevard in Ahwatukee has become the nerve center for one of the most successful set of websites on the planet, pouring $750,000 into the local economy last year alone. With a dash of motorhead, a sprinkling of computer geek – and a whole lot of business savvy and foresight – the 20-year Ahwatukee resident has developed a skein of automobile websites that command the attention of millions of people around the world and employ 27 people in Ahwatukee. Through the websites that Falcone birthed and nurtured over the last 13 years, owners of classic and collector cars meet each other, sell to and buy from each other and – as of a month ago – also auction vehicles. As the CEO of the Collector Car Network, Falcone presides over the world’s most com-
see CARS page 19
Roger Falcone of Ahwatukee is the CEO of the Collector Car Network, whose websites draw millions of visitors from around the world who are interested in buying or selling collectible and classic cars. (Special to AFN)