NEW ULM — During Thursday’s New Ulm Public School Board meeting, Superintendent Sean Koster thanked District 88 Business Manager Matt Moline for his efforts in helping the school district fully recoup funds lost in a check theft that occurred last year.

Last July, the school district was the victim of a mail theft incident involving a $216,775 check issued to a vendor for technology equipment. The check was intercepted, fraudulently altered, and subsequently cashed under false pretenses, Moline said.

“Thanks to coordinated efforts between the school district, our commercial liability and cyber insurance providers paid $206,285. The remaining $10,500 was reimbursed by the bank. The full amount of the loss was recovered with no net financial impact to the school district,” said Moline.

He said the school district reported the incident to local and federal law enforcement. Further details were not available on the case, due to an ongoing investigation.

Last summer, it was learned the school district was looking to purchase iPads from the Apple Inc. for $216.000. A check was mailed to the company for the items but Apple never received the check. The school district later received photocopies of issued checks and learned the check intended for the iPads was altered and cashed by a person not in the school’s accounting system.

The check was deposited at a Raleigh, N.C. bank. The case was investigated by Raleigh Police and U.S. Bank. A claim was issued with the U.S. Postal Service to determine how the check was intercepted.

After the incident, the school district put new security procedures in place to help prevent such an incident from happening again.