Lori St. Thomas {BSO}
A Coral Springs woman and former Catholic school principal will avoid prison time after being convicted in a scheme that siphoned nearly $240,000 from her employer over several years.
Lori St. Thomas, 62, the former principal of St. Coleman Catholic School in Pompano Beach, was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years of probation and ordered to pay $121,548 in restitution.
The sentence comes a little more than a month after a Broward County jury found her guilty on March 3 of an organized scheme to defraud.
Prosecutors had pushed for a harsher penalty, requesting five years in state prison followed by 20 years of probation, along with restitution. Instead, the judge opted for a non-custodial sentence, determining that repayment to the school outweighed the need for incarceration.
According to investigators, St. Thomas used an unauthorized bank account to deposit extra direct payments to herself and transferred non-approved credits into a personal pension fund between 2016 and 2024. Authorities said the scheme totaled more than $238,000 in unauthorized compensation.
The activity was uncovered after St. Thomas was fired by the Archdiocese of Miami in October 2024.
Court records show the defense had also sought an acquittal or a new trial, but those motions were denied.
St. Thomas will remain under supervision for the next decade as she works to repay the funds to the school.
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