Prosecutors allege that between 2019 and 2025, Shorts used a school-issued purchasing card to buy personal items through Amazon, including household goods, clothing, electronics, and furnishings, which some were shipped to her home and even a vacation property in Florida.
To conceal the purchases, the documents claim she altered receipts, fabricated invoices, and submitted falsified documentation to the school system’s finance department, disguising the expenditures as legitimate classroom materials. In some cases, items like a robot vacuum, furniture, rugs, and iPads were allegedly misrepresented as school-related purchases or redirected for personal or private business use.
Investigators say the scheme went undetected for years, in part because the purchases were made using tax-exempt school accounts and were accompanied by falsified paperwork. The alleged misconduct was ultimately uncovered during a 2025 audit by the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits, which identified discrepancies between credit card data and submitted receipts.