A Bedford County woman is facing 30 counts of forgery charges tonight after police said she stole from a Chestnut Ridge school's parent teacher organization.

She was elected treasurer for the PTO last May.

By August, bills were not being paid and resulted in Central Elementary School being out by more than $11,000. 

"Not only did she steal from children, but her own as well," Central Elementary PTO President Kimberly Mickle said.

It has parents outraged and appalled. 

"I don't even have a word for it; that's as low as it gets," Mickle said.

Police said Leanna Gottshall of Osterburg is facing 30 counts of forgery, but it took months to pick up on the missing funds. 

The first late bill came in mid-February, then a second weeks later. 

"I started getting late notices from companies that I thought we had made payment to in prior months," Mickle said.

Companies like Scholastic Book Fair sent notices.

Mickle said she decided to go straight to First Commonwealth Bank to get the statements. 

"They told me that check number was cashed on December 26, 2012, and it was made out to Leanna Gottshall," Mickle explained.

And it was not just one. 

"We found 33 more checks."

It totaled more than $11,000 and it didn't stop with just checks, according to Mickle. 

"She stole cash I had given her to deposit for a fundraiser. She stole cash I had her deposit for candy bars we sell. She even stole cash we had her deposit for pencils."

First Commonwealth Bank reimbursed Central's PTO the thousands in forged checks, but as for Gottshall, "We called an emergency meeting of our board and terminated her and installed a new treasurer," Mickle said.

It comes as a lesson learned for Central's PTO. 

"We put some additional safeguards through the bank, and we're still looking into more. You do have to trust that person that's holding that checkbook, we trusted the wrong one," Mickle said.

Gottshall is free on $75,000 unsecured bail.

6 News reached out to her for comment, but did not get a call back.