Deltona, FL - A Deltona woman is free on $5,000 bond from Volusia County Jail after deputies link her to the theft of nearly $10,000 in cash from the middle school band her son plays in.
41-year-old Shawn O. Sablotne was the elected treasurer of the Heritage Middle School Band Parent Association and used at least some of the money in the association's account to pay her landlord two rent checks, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office arrest report.
Sablotne was arrested on Tuesday morning by VCSO and booked at VCJ soon afterward.
VCSO was brought into the matter on October 20th when the director of the HMS Band came to the agency's Deltona office to speak to a detective about suspicious activity on the account.
Per the report, Sablotne used her position as treasurer to cut at least 33 checks - none higher than $300 a piece - to herself from the band's bank account between January 2017 and September 2018, with the grand total of those checks coming out to nearly $8,000.
In addition, the band director told VCSO that he often gave Sablotne "large amounts of cash" to deposit into the account and that she also collected cash from parents to help pay the band's bills, including a trip to Universal Studios. It's since been determined that at least $1,763 in cash given to Sablotne has not been accounted for, per the report.
When questioned by a VCSO detective at her home on Monday, Sablotne cried and said she was sorry for taking the money, stating that she intended to pay it back but she "just ran low on some funds," per the report.
VCSO has since collected documents Sablotne created during her time as treasurer and also took back a bassoon, trombone and oboe rented out by her kids from their respective school's bands.
Sablotne also told the detective that her landlord had no idea she had been raiding the band's account to pay him rent.
