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The former treasurer of Grayson High School’s wrestling team booster club has been accused of stealing about $8,000 from the organization.

Pete Casciano, 47, of Grayson was arrested and charged with four counts of theft by taking. Police said Casciano used booster club funds to make a deposit into his personal business account, to pay his car note and mortgage and to purchase four tires for his truck.

Takedown Club president-elect Sarah Isburgh said Monday that the club doesn’t know exactly how much money is missing. A tax attorney estimated the loss at $19,000, but club members think it could be as much as $40,000, she said.

“It is just devastating,” Isburgh said.

The savings that parents built up through fund-raisers, donations, concessions and spirit wear sales has been wiped out. The club had built a nest egg for a construction project that later was canceled.

“We started out the year with close to $50,000 in our account — that was before our dues and before our fund-raisers even started in the fall,” Isburgh said. “We were left with about $94 at the end of the season.”

Police said Casciano used booster club money to pay his personal bills, with the largest single withdrawal, $2,773, coming in January 2007 to make a mortgage payment. Casciano also allegedly wrote a $2,500 check from the Takedown Club bank account and deposited the check into his personal business account, Diamond Installation Services. The check was written to cash and endorsed by him, his arrest warrants state.

He is accused of using a debit card to make a $2,241 car payment and to buy four tires for his truck for $586.

Since the election of new officers recently, the Takedown Club has established much stricter policies about auditing the account, signing checks and reimbursing expenses to keep on top of its finances, Isburgh said.

This is the second booster club theft revealed at Gwinnett County Public Schools in less than a week.

An arrest warrant was sought last week for Susan Kelly of Snellville, who is suspected of stealing $14,576 from U.S. Marine Corps Junior ROTC at Parkview High School.

According to a Gwinnett County school police report, Kelly also obtained a debit card for the booster club’s account and used it to withdraw money without permission.

Gwinnett County Schools do not directly oversee booster clubs; parents do. However, head coaches often work closely with the organizations and their budgets.

A school can have as many booster clubs as it has athletics and fine arts programs.

“This is my 29th year in [high school] education, and this is the first time I’ve ever had to deal with it,” said Mike Phillips, athletic director for Grayson High School.

He meets with booster clubs annually to go over the school system’s expectations for them.

“You want to trust your people,” Phillips said. “It is a very disappointing thing when something like this happens and that trust has been violated.”

Meanwhile, parents are trying to cope with the shock of it all and keep the organization running. Membership has grown as people concerned about the theft have gotten more involved. The organization plans to file a civil suit against Casciano.

“Pete was one of my son’s first coaches,” Isburgh said. “They are a great family. None of us had any idea that there was anything wrong.”

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