ANDERSON, Ind. — A former bookkeeper for the Anderson Community School Corporation will serve 28 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to stealing nearly $1 million from the school’s lunch fund.

Carla Burke, 63, of Anderson pleaded guilty to wire fraud and falsifying tax documents.

“The defendant stole nearly a million dollars intended to put food in the mouths of children to satisfy her own greed,” said Zachary A. Myers, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.

“Public employment is a public trust, and the sentence imposed today shows that those who violate that trust will be held accountable.”

According to previous reports, Burke worked as the Anderson Community School Corporation Food Service Department’s bookkeeper from 2007 until the time her crimes were discovered in 2019.

Between Jan. 1, 2014, and June 30, 2019, Burke issued 312 fraudulent checks from the ACSC Food Service to herself and cashed the checks into her personal bank account. Burke used the money for personal expenditures, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said, including using the funds to gamble.

In total, the 312 checks Burke wrote to herself accounted for $976,773.29 in losses to the school corporation.

As part of her sentencing, Burke has been ordered to pay restitution in the full amount stolen to the Anderson Community School Corporation along with $141,190 to the IRS.