CPS Teacher Charged With Stealing $100K

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A teacher who allegedly stole nearly $100,000 from Walt Disney Magnet School has been charged with three felonies.

Mark Gruntzel, 43, allegedly told investigators that he took money from after-school club tuition fees and PTA funds because he was broke.

Gruntzel has been charged with money laundering, official misconduct and theft -- all felony counts -- after he was arrested Tuesday morning at his home on the 7500 block of North Damen Avenue.

The theft of $56,486 in $75-a-week tuition fees for an after school club was collected over a two-year period from parents at the lakefront Buena Park neighborhood elementary school and uncovered in a report by Chicago Public Schools Inspector General James M. Sullivan.

The report also alleges Gruntzel stole $40,030 from the school's Parent Teacher Association account.

As of Jan. 11, Gruntzel has been suspended without pay and faces dismissal at a disciplinary hearing, CPS spokeswoman Monique Bond said, adding that Gruntzel has been a CPS teacher for 17 years.

Disney Magnet principal Kathleen Hagstrom referred the case for investigation last year and CPS is attempting to recover the stolen funds, Bond said.

(The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.)