Woman sentenced for theft from one metro-east school district as case continues from other
.jpg "A Monroe County judge has sentenced a former school bookkeeper to prison in connection with theft at the school.")
A former employee charged with stealing money from two metro-east school districts has been sentenced to prison in one of the criminal cases against her.
Julie A. Nappier, 53, of Valmeyer, previously worked as a bookkeeper for Columbia Community Unit School District 4 in Monroe County before leaving to work as a business manager at O’Fallon’s Central School District 104 in St. Clair County.
Charges allege she stole from the Columbia school district between July 8, 2016, and June 24, 2022, and from the O’Fallon school district between Aug. 29, 2022, and June 30, 2023.
In late 2024, she pleaded guilty in Monroe County Circuit Court to theft of between $10,000 and $100,000 from a school, a Class 1 felony, and deception, a Class 4 felony.
Monroe County Circuit Judge Chris Hitzemann sentenced Nappier on Feb. 21 to four years in prison for the theft charge and one year for the deception charge, which will be served concurrently. Nappier was also ordered to pay $60,000 in restitution to the Columbia school district.
She is eligible for sentence credit to serve 50% of the sentence. Scott Rosenblum, her attorney, said they are hopeful Nappier will serve less than a year with additional time off her sentence for completing programs and services while in custody.
She will begin serving her sentence on March 11.
“It was a sad case all the way around and certainly Mrs. Nappier accepted her responsibility and she’s hoping to get this chapter behind her as soon as possible,” Rosenblum said.
As part of the Monroe County case, 40 of Nappier’s family members and friends submitted character reference letters to the judge.
Rosenblum, a longtime St. Louis attorney who has represented high-profile clients including former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and rapper Nelly, said he has never seen such an outpouring of support.
Among Nappier’s references were at least seven of her former coworkers from Columbia Community Unit School District 4 who wrote about her work ethic and character. Valmeyer Mayor Howard Heavner also wrote a letter about Nappier’s connections to the community American Legion, a church and Valmeyer schools, which she and her three children attended.
“I believe that Julie’s involvement in our school and community makes her deserving of your consideration,” Heavner wrote to the judge.
Nappier was initially charged in 2023 in Monroe County with theft of more than $100,000 — a total of $154,374.44 — from the Columbia school district, a Class X felony under which she could have faced a sentence of six to 30 years in prison. But that charge was dismissed and replaced with the lower-level felony theft charge. A charge of official misconduct, a Class 3 felony, was also dismissed.
A second criminal case against her remains ongoing in St. Clair County Circuit Court, where she was charged in 2024 with theft of between $10,000 and $100,000 from a school and official misconduct.
Nappier has pleaded not guilty in St. Clair County. The next court hearing for her case is March 10 for a status conference. Her attorney in that case, Benedict Song, declined to comment while the case is pending.
‘Like taking money from a hospital’
Columbia Community Unit School District 4 Superintendent Chris Grode said the district first discovered fraudulent activity roughly a year after Nappier left as it was switching its finance software system.
The district brought in auditors and reported their findings to the Columbia Police Department on June 26, 2023, according to a search warrant, which was included in the Monroe County court record.
Nappier was responsible for payroll at District 4. Columbia police officers reviewed pay records and time sheets as part of their investigation.
“We learned dating back to at least 2016, Nappier had been compensating herself extra money paid out from various funds not designated to pay the bookkeeper,” the warrant states. “We also learned Nappier rarely submitted timecards and when they were submitted, they did not match the amount of money she paid herself.”
The deception charge against Nappier in Monroe County also accused her of stealing retirement funds, $155.41 over what is allowed by law.
Grode said he thinks Nappier’s actions were particularly upsetting given that she had been an employee of the district for 24 years from 1998 to 2022 and the theft came at a time schools faced financial difficulties due to the state budget impasse, which lasted from 2015 to 2017.
“Theft is wrong, period, but if you’re doing it in schools where you’re dealing with children, that would be like taking money from a hospital that’s trying to heal the sick,” Grode said.
Central School District 104 Superintendent Gabrielle Rodriguez said she learned about the Monroe County allegations when Nappier was charged and arrested on July 13, 2023. At the time, Nappier had been the district’s business manager for nearly a year. Rodriguez was only a few weeks into her administrative role.
Rodriguez said both O’Fallon police and the district investigated. Through its investigation, which included forensic auditors, the district uncovered potential excess payments to Nappier’s payroll and her retirement account of more than $11,000, according to Rodriguez.
She said Nappier was placed on administrative leave from District 104 and ultimately fired on July 24, 2023.
Both school districts have safeguards in place to protect against fraud, according to the superintendents.
Before the criminal cases, the Columbia district started employing two bookkeepers instead of one, which Grode said adds checks and balances to district finances. Rodriguez said that when she became superintendent a few weeks prior to Nappier being charged in Monroe County, she implemented strict measures that district auditors agreed with.
