Woman charged with stealing from charity

A woman has been arrested after she allegedly stole nearly $10,000 from an organisation which runs a school holiday programme in Waikato.

The 35-year-old woman was arrested in Lower Hutt charged in connection with funds allegedly stolen from the Ngaruawahia Community Youth Holiday Programme.

She is charged with 32 counts of theft by a person in a special relationship and 16 counts of forgery.

Detective Constable Chris Cummings said the amount of money involved was $9732.58.

"The charges relate to offences between May 3, 2007 and February 16, 2008," he told NZPA.

Mr Cummings said the trust had been operating for some time in Ngaruawahia, just north of Hamilton.

"It's a local charity run by volunteers which during three weeks in January runs activities for local kids," he said.

"It gets money from sponsors which allows them to keep the price of the holiday programme down."

Mr Cummings said he was happy at the progress of the inquiry.

"We're relieved to have been able to successfully advance the inquiry to the stage where charges have been laid because the programme has been running here in Ngaruawahia for over 20 years and has been a real success."

The woman will appear in Lower Hutt District Court on January 19.

- NZPA