NORRISTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — The Paoli woman who pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a private school in East Norriton was supposed to be sentenced on Friday in Norristown. But that sentencing has now been delayed.
Katherine Paprocka, 38, pleaded guilty to seven of the 158 theft charges filed against her, admitting she faked her credentials, including a masters and a PhD, to get a job as school administrator of Penn Christian Academy. She also admitted to stealing just shy of $370,000 from the school in 2020 and 2021.
“The school shut down as a result of this because it could no longer financially afford to operate,” said prosecutor Gwen Kull, who added teachers and staff went unpaid.
As part of the guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to seek no more than 11.5 to 23 months in county jail, and Paprocka agreed to make $99,000, a portion of the $270,000 she agreed to pay back, available at sentencing.
“If that money had not been applied, then the commonwealth was not bound to follow that agreement, and the commonwealth could ask for state incarceration,” said the prosecutor.
But the judge said there was only $29,000 in the account.
“The majority of the restitution in this case would be going to the unpaid wage claims with the Department of Labor,” Kull said.
Guidelines call for a maximum of 49 years in prison for the charges Paprocka pleaded guilty to, and significantly more if convicted of all the charges.
Sentencing has been delayed to allow Paprocka to figure out the money.
The judge also told Paprocka she could use the delay to clear up statements she made during pre-sentencing evaluations, which he said appeared to show she has not been taking responsibility for her actions. He quoted from that pre-sentencing report, reading, “She feels she was unfairly blamed for circumstances.” The judge then read a quote from the report attributed to Paprocka, “There was embezzlement before I was hired and I got wrapped up in it, then couldn’t afford to fight.”
The judge said he may wait until Paprocka deals with charges in Chester County, where she is accused of faking her credentials as a marriage counselor, then illegally billing insurance companies; filing a false Childline report of abuse; and spreading forged documents around her ex-husband’s neighborhood saying he is on Pennsylvania’s sex offender registry list, which he isn’t.