Ex Wake Forest PTA treasurer pleads guilty to embezzling $32,635

A Wake Forest Elementary School parent group trusted with money for students says one of its own diverted $32,635.42, turning a school fundraiser account into a felony embezzlement case that ended with probation instead of prison.

Anna-Marie Ethridge, 56, pleaded guilty on May 6 to embezzlement after Wake Forest police said she misappropriated PTA funds while serving as treasurer. Police said the matter was first reported on Nov. 6, 2025, and Ethridge was charged on Feb. 18 with embezzlement of funds by a public officer or trustee, a felony under North Carolina law. She turned herself in the same day to the Wake County Sheriff’s Office and was issued a $15,000 unsecured bond.

Court records show the plea spared Ethridge prison time, but it did not end the consequences. She was sentenced to 12 months of supervised probation and must complete 100 hours of community service during the first 300 days of that probation. A judge also ordered her to pay $12,825 in restitution to the Wake Forest Elementary PTA, and she is scheduled to return to Wake County court on March 4, 2027, for a probation compliance hearing.

The alleged theft struck at a kind of organization that depends on trust more than bureaucracy. National PTA says local PTAs help organize educational programs, workshops, guest speakers, field trips, arts education, literacy, STEM and school improvement efforts. Wake Forest Elementary, a K-5 magnet program in downtown Wake Forest, says its schools, families, businesses and volunteers are supposed to work together to help students thrive.

That makes the loss more than a bookkeeping problem. Money intended for student enrichment, classroom support and family engagement was instead pulled away from a school community that relies on parent volunteers to manage donations and fundraising proceeds. For parent-teacher organizations across Wake County, from downtown Wake Forest to schools in Raleigh, the case is a reminder that one treasurer can hold outsized control when oversight is thin.

The criminal statute used in the case treats embezzlement by a public officer or trustee as a felony. The timeline also suggests the theft went undetected for months, with the alleged misappropriation tied to Jan. 7, 2025, before it was reported to police nearly 10 months later. For Wake Forest families, the sentence closes one chapter, but it leaves behind a harder lesson about safeguarding school money before trust is broken.