Cafeteria sales soar after school fires worker Brenda Watts accused of theft

A year after a Fulton County high school fired an employee accused of stealing from the cafeteria for years, cafeteria sales soared by more than $50,000. Brenda Watts was fired from the school, later arrested on charges of stealing $500 a day for years from the cafeteria.

The employee who blew the whistle was fired. Beth Walsh lost her job, but now her former boss is awaiting indictment on theft charges.

Walsh shot videos inside the North Springs cafeteria after she became suspicious about how Watts was managing the operation.

In particular, she said there was no register to account for cash-only sales at one serving station called the campus cuisine. All four regular lines had a cash register to keep track of sales.

Walsh says the campus cuisine station had accepted cash-only for at least 15 years.

Fulton County Schools police issued arrest warrants for Watts. They accuse her of 30 counts of theft over slightly more than four years. The woman who blew the whistle suspects it may have gone on longer than that.

”Would I have liked to have kept my job? Sure. But I’m OK with what I did, said Walsh.

Walsh filed a whistleblower civil suit against the Fulton County School system earlier in 2014. Her lawyer also declined comment.

Fulton County school police have arrested a former cafeteria manager suspected of stealing hundreds of dollars every day for at least five years.