Former Auburn PTA President Accused Of Stealing From Club

AUBURN (CBS13) - Investigators say a former Auburn PTA president robbed hundreds of students she was elected to help.

The Placer County Sheriff's Office says Traci Lynn Bucher stole $2,200 from last year's school fund and investigators are still looking into whether she has anything to do with an additional $2,000 that went missing.

Bucher, 37 and a mother herself, is accused of embezzling money meant for Auburn Elementary School students.

"That's just wrong on so many levels," another parent said Tuesday.

Sheriff's detectives say she went on a personal shopping spree using a parent-teacher club debit card. The missing money came to light after other parents realized the club's math wasn't adding up.

"We're saddened by it," said a volunteer with the club who didn't want to show her face on camera. "It could be used toward books, toward recreation activities, field trips."

The volunteer says she's not surprised after Bucher's strange behavior at the end of the last school year. She says Bucher mysteriously left her position with the club and pulled her child out of school.

"Due to her leaving so quickly from being president, I thought there was something happening," she said.

No one answered at her door Tuesday, but neighbors expressed shock at the allegations.

They seem like perfect citizens so I wouldn't have guessed that," neighbor Paul Woollatt said.

Meanwhile, Auburn Elementary parents are outraged that a woman trusted to help kids is now accused of stealing from them.

"The children are affected by this," one said.

Bucher is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 11.