SUSQUEHANNA CO., PA (WNEP/CNN) - A school principal is accused of stealing nearly $3,000 from the children she was hired to protect.
Christine Kelly was escorted to be fingerprinted in Montrose.
Kelly was charged and suspended with pay from her job as principal at Mountain View Elementary in Kingsley, PA.
She's accused of stealing nearly $3,000 from the sixth grade field trip fund.
"I don't know how you could be so low to steal from little kids like that. It is a sad situation and nothing like that should happen," resident Justin Kropa said.
According to court papers, detectives started investigating in May, after the Mountain View school district superintendent told them money meant for a field trip to Washington D.C. was missing.
School officials told investigators that Kelly insisted on keeping the money in her office and not in the school safe.
When those officials later went to count the money, they found $2,600 missing.
Some worry what kind of message this is sending to the students as they start a new school year.
It's not clear if the field trip will be affected by the missing money.
Kelly is free after posting bail.
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