School embezzling suspect appears in court

A woman accused of embezzling money from the Lakeside-Somers Parent Teachers Association last year had her first appearance in Flathead District Court on Thursday.

Kendra Diane Dalke, 29, asked for a public defender.

Dalke told the judge that she had recently moved to Medford, Oregon. She was booked into jail and released on her own recognizance after she told the judge that she had never skipped out on a court hearing before. Dalke said she had never even had a parking ticket before the most recent felony charge.

Judge David Ortley said it might be possible for Dalke to appear via an audio-visual link at her March 17 arraignment, where she will enter a plea to a felony theft charge.

The charge arose after Lakeside Parent Teacher Association found that $7,686 was missing from the group’s account during the time Dalke served as treasurer for the organization.

She allegedly confessed to using the group’s debit card and writing a check to her personal account for a total of $4,800 sometime between December 2014 and November 2015. She allegedly told investigating sheriff’s deputies that she had a gambling problem.