ACCUSED ONAGA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FFA EMBEZZLER PLEADS NOT GUILTY

The former treasurer of Onaga Elementary School’s Family-Faculty Association, or FFA, pleaded Not Guilty in Joshua Tree Superior court yesterday to charges that she embezzled almost $3400 from the volunteer organization. According to Onaga Elementary Principal Kyle Hannah, the FFA was performing an internal audit last September when Shelli Stovall, 34, of Yucca Valley, came to him and confessed to taking $3400, after which she resigned her position as treasurer. Hannah told Z107.7 News that he was sure investigators would have found that more than $3400 was missing if they’d kept looking, but they stopped the investigation so that the FFA and the school could get back to business. In court on Thursday, Stovall was ordered to pay a $50 indigent fee for a court-appointed public defender. After making her Not Guilty plea, Shelli Stovall was released on her own recognizance and will be back in court February 1 for a pre-preliminary hearing.