From Tennessee Comptroller’s Office
An investigation by the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office has resulted in the indictment of Amanda Rosie Tidwell, the former president of the 1st and Goal football booster club at East Hickman High School in Lyles. Tidwell served as the booster club president from February 2021 until her resignation on July 30, 2021.
Investigators determined that Tidwell misappropriated booster club funds totaling $1,290. Tidwell requested cash and accepted donations and sponsorships for the booster club, but she failed to remit the money or use the funds as designated. She only remitted the funds once she was directly questioned by school officials and booster club members.
Tidwell’s total misappropriation of $1,290 involved four separate instances:
- Tidwell requested $500 from the booster club to pay a deposit on a polo shirt order for the football team. Tidwell never placed the order and kept the funds for more than month. After the school principal confronted Tidwell about the missing $500 on July 26, 2021, she contacted a booster club member requesting to borrow money. She turned over $500 to the school on July 27, 2021.
- Tidwell collected a sponsor donation check of $50 on June 14, 2021; however, she didn’t turn it over until July 27, 2021.
- Tidwell accepted a $300 sponsorship donation from a local business on June 9, 2021. She later filled in her own name on the check and cashed it. The money was eventually found by booster club officers in Tidwell’s notebook that was turned over six days after her resignation on August 5, 2021.
- Tidwell accepted a $440 cash donation to pay for a team meal on July 19, 2021, but she retained and failed to remit the funds for 53 days instead of paying for the meal.
Additionally, Tidwell wrote personal checks to the high school totaling $220 to pay for smart cards sold by her son as part of a school fundraiser. Both checks were returned for insufficient funds. At the conclusion of the investigation, Tidwell still had not paid the school for the smart cards.
Based upon this investigation, in June 2022, the Hickman County Grand Jury indicted Amanda Rosie Tidwell on one count of theft over $1,000, and one count of forgery.
To view the investigative report, go to tncot.cc/doireports.
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