A former Maryland assistant superintendent was ordered to serve five years in prison after admitting she used a school district purchase card to make $118,741.89 in personal Amazon purchases.
Denise R. Shorts, 61, pleaded guilty Sept. 23 to one count of felony theft scheme over $100,000. The Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor said Worcester County Circuit Court Judge S. James Sarbanes sentenced her to 10 years of incarceration, suspended all but five, followed by three years of supervised probation.
Shorts worked for Worcester County Public Schools for decades and most recently served as chief academic officer, also known as assistant superintendent. She also served as the district’s Title I grant coordinator, giving her responsibility over federal money intended to support schools serving children from low-income families.
Prosecutors said Shorts used the district card for personal Amazon purchases from 2019 through 2025 and repeatedly altered supporting paperwork before submitting her monthly purchase-card statements. The purchases included clothing and cosmetics, pool equipment, furnishings for a Florida vacation home and items for a learning center she jointly owned.
She Cut and Taped Fake Descriptions Onto Amazon Receipts
@cbsbaltimoreA former assistant superintendent for Worcester County Public Schools pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony theft scheme involving more than $100,000 in personal Amazon purchases. Denise R. Shorts was sentenced to 10 years♬ original sound WJZ
The criminal information describes a physical process prosecutors say Shorts used to disguise what she had purchased.
She printed a legitimate Amazon receipt and another receipt that appeared to show school-related materials. Prosecutors said she cut out a product description or shipping address from the second receipt, taped it over the corresponding information on the genuine receipt and photocopied the altered document.
Shorts submitted the copy with her monthly district purchase-card statement, signed the statement as accurate and supplied budget codes directing the finance department to the account or grant that would absorb the charge.
One example involved an $899 solar-powered pool skimmer purchased in June 2023 and shipped to Shorts’ residence. Prosecutors said the receipt she submitted instead described a classroom area rug and showed the Worcester County Board of Education as the shipping destination.
In June 2024, Shorts used the card to buy a $1,869 robot pool vacuum. The paperwork submitted to the district described a classroom partition. A $499 heavy-duty inversion table purchased in March 2025 was represented on district paperwork as another classroom area rug.
School Funds Bought Items for a Learning Center and Florida Vacation Home
The criminal information also describes purchases that benefited a learning center Shorts jointly owned.
In May 2022, she used the district card to purchase a children’s area rug for $568.94 and had it shipped to the learning center. Prosecutors said the paperwork submitted to the school system instead indicated that the rug had been delivered to the Board of Education.
Shorts bought five Apple iPads with the purchase card in September 2023. The charging document says she did not alter that receipt but distributed the devices through the learning center rather than using them for Worcester County Public Schools students.
Other purchases went to a vacation home Shorts owned in Florida. Prosecutors identified a $404.45 Samsung 55-inch television purchased in July 2024 and shipped to the property. The receipt submitted to the district represented the purchase as a classroom area rug.
In December 2024, Shorts bought a queen-sized bed frame for $924.48 and had it shipped to the Florida home. Prosecutors said the paperwork submitted to the district described a classroom partition with sound-dampening panels.
State Auditors Identified Questionable Purchases
The criminal information says that in July 2025, Maryland’s Office of Legislative Audits examined Worcester County Public Schools’ financial activity, including the purchase card issued to Shorts.
The agency’s official audit report says auditors identified questionable purchases involving a management employee during their fieldwork and referred the matter to the Office of the State Prosecutor.
According to the criminal information, auditors compared the receipts Shorts had submitted with detailed Amazon transaction data supplied through the district’s bank. The data included product descriptions, quantities, product codes and unit prices, allowing auditors to compare the underlying purchases with the documents kept in the district’s files.
Prosecutors said the comparison exposed discrepancies. Shorts later admitted that after those discrepancies were discovered, she created false personal credit-card statements in an attempt to claim that the Amazon purchases had been made on her own card.
The charging document says she altered those statements using whiteout or taped-on false purchases, photocopied the altered statements and provided the copies to the school system.
More Than $84,000 Was Charged to Title I Funds
Of the $118,741.89 in personal Amazon purchases, prosecutors said Shorts falsely coded $84,365.82 as expenses benefiting Title I schools.
The State Prosecutor said those entries caused the money to be deducted from funds intended to provide additional educational support for students in schools serving children from low-income families. Shorts had served as the district’s Title I grant coordinator in addition to her senior administrative role.
The Worcester County Board of Education said after sentencing that it had received full restitution of $118,741.89. The district said it first learned of potential irregularities through the state legislative audit process, cooperated with investigators and has taken steps to strengthen its financial safeguards.
In its victim impact statement, the Board said the diverted resources had been intended for students facing significant barriers to academic success. The district also said a broader independent financial examination remains underway.
Shorts pleaded guilty in Worcester County Circuit Court case C-23-CR-26-000049. Judge Sarbanes imposed a 10-year sentence, suspended all but five years, and ordered three years of supervised probation after her release.