NORWICH – The Norwich school teacher accused of stealing funds from a parent-teacher association and committing forgery pleaded not guilty in Norwich City Court on Tuesday.

Former Purple Tornado Community Team (PTCT) Treasurer Rebecca L. Evans, 49, of Norwich has been charged with third-degree grand larceny, and second-degree forgery, both are class D felonies.

Evans, who has not been incarcerated, appeared briefly in court to plead not guilty.

According to the court documents, two members of the Norwich City School District made statements about the case leading to Evan's arrest.

The statements revealed that the group's president discovered the missing amounts while reviewing finances. He contacted Evans over the missing funds and said that she agreed to pay it back. Officials said that she failed to do so, and two days later the police were contacted.

Purple Tornado Community Team President Tyler R. Brown described how the school's investigation began, "On March 19, I noticed that there was an extra account associated with our organization. I began to look into this extra account over the next couple of days, and on Tuesday March 20 I went to [the bank associated with the account] and got copies of the financial statements until March of this year."

In the court documents, Brown explained that upon reviewing the financial statements he noticed the bank record showed multiple personal purchases, and then he proceeded to contact other members of the PTCT for assistance.