Former Middletown PTA president charged with stealing more than $23K from organization

Ryanne Hartman, who last year stepped down as president of the Parent Teacher Association for Middletown Elementary and Middletown Primary schools, has been charged with stealing more than $23,000 from the organization using forged checks.

Hartman faces 193 separate charges, including theft, forgery, issuing false documents and possessing forged documents, for alleged offenses from February 2022 to August 2023, charging documents say.

Hartman was arrested on April 26, according to online court records. She was released on her own recognizance that same day.

Christopher Rolle, an attorney representing Hartman in the case, could not be reached for comment on Friday afternoon. A cellphone number for Hartman went to voicemail.

Charging documents say other members of the PTA’s board began to suspect problems with the organization’s finances in September 2023, when Middletown Valley Bank flagged a fraudulent check written and signed by Hartman.

Then-Vice President Gwen McQueeney told the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office that she and others went through the organization’s bank statements and found multiple other checks made out to Hartman without the knowledge of the rest of the board, charging documents say.

McQueeney, who took over as president of the PTA after an emergency election in October 2023, told police that the organization requires each check to be signed by both the president and the treasurer.

A review of several years’ worth of bank statements uncovered 48 fraudulent checks made out to Hartman, totaling $23,135 in PTA funds, charging documents say.

Of those checks, as a second signatory, 29 bore the forged signature of Courtney Brohawn, the PTA’s former treasurer who resigned after one year due in part to Hartman’s refusal to share financial information with her.

Two of the remaining checks had illegible co-signer signatures, while 17, as a second signatory, bore the forged signature of Jackie Zumbrunn, who served as president while Hartman was acting as the organization’s treasurer, charging documents say.

Hartman allegedly deposited the stolen funds into different bank accounts, including personal accounts and a joint account she shared with her husband, authorities said.

Charging documents say Hartman:

■ deposited 20 checks totaling $12,396 into one personal account and 18 checks totaling $7,771 into another personal account.

■ cashed two checks totaling $748 using a third personal account

■ deposited another eight checks totaling $2,219 into a joint account with her husband.

Of the $23,135 in stolen funds, approximately $10,000 was given to the PTA in the form of a grant from the town of Middletown in March 2022, charging documents say.

According to charging documents, the majority of the fraudulent checks made out to Hartman were marked as “reimbursement,” but could not be tied to legitimate PTA expenses or events through receipts or bank statements.

Some of the larger reimbursements claimed by Hartman included $1,516 for “Pizza Kits,” $1,835 for “movie reimbursement” and $1,225 for “FFK Night Deposit Reimbursement.”

McQueeney told police that the PTA does not conduct business during the summer break for Frederick County Public Schools.

Fourteen of the checks made out to Hartman during the period covered by the PTA’s bank statements were written during the summer months, when no school or PTA activities would have taken place, charging documents say.

McQueeney told The Frederick News-Post in December 2023 that the PTA had only $3,000 left in its bank account. McQueeney could not be reached by phone on Friday afternoon for an update.

According to McQueeney, the alleged embezzlement went unnoticed for so long because Hartman refused to make the PTA’s current and historical accounting records, budgets, receipts and audits available to other board members.

Hartman is also alleged in charging documents to have lied to other board members, claiming that a private company was conducting a financial audit when the company had never been in contact with any PTA representatives.

When confronted with the embezzlement accusations, charging documents say, Hartman attempted to deliver to McQueeney a cashier’s check in the amount of $4,615.

The cashier’s check was made out to the PTA and left under McQueeney’s front door mat, according to charging documents.

Online court records show that was sued in small claims court by Capital One Bank in September 2021, five months before the alleged theft scheme began. There was no indication of how much money was involved in the court filing.

The case was dismissed on Nov. 10, 2021. A court record indicates that Hartman was working on a payment plan with the plaintiff’s attorney.

As of Friday afternoon, Hartman was listed as a special education teacher on the New Market Elementary School website.

Asked on Friday whether Hartman was still employed with the school system, FCPS spokesperson Brandon Oland said he could not share information on personnel matters.