Suspect arrested after allegedly stealing $36K from Scottsdale middle school association

PHOENIX — A suspect accused of stealing $36,000 from a Scottsdale middle school parent teacher association bank account turned herself in on Tuesday, authorities said.

Nubia Gonzalez, who was elected as treasurer for Cocopah Middle School’s Association of Parents and Teacher in April, allegedly stole the funds days after she was given control of the account in early July, according to the Scottsdale Police Department.

The association’s president noticed the empty account on July 2 after returning from a trip.

The bank informed the president that several withdrawals had been made between June 28 and July 1.

Authorities had been on the search for Gonzalez since last week.

Several parents, school employees and police officials tried to contact Gonzalez, but her phone numbers were no longer in service. The address she gave to the Scottsdale Unified School District was fraudulent, according to authorities.

Gonzalez had four children enrolled in the school district at the time of the alleged crime.

Cocopah Middle School is located at 6615 E. Cholla St. in Scottsdale.

This is an updated version of a story originally published on Aug. 10, 2024.

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