Faking Death In Family Leads To Firing

A New York City school employee was fired after she forged a death certificate for her daughter so she could take a week's vacation in Costa Rica.  School officials say 58-year old Joan Barnett, a parent coordinator at the Manhattan High School of Hospitality Management, had one of her daughters call the school to say her sister had suffered a heart attack in Costa Rica.  Then later she had another daughter call to say the heart attack was fatal and the family was traveling to Costa Rica for the funeral.

If all of that wasn't bad enough, she went the extra step of forging a death certificate because the school system required one for bereavement days.

The whole scheme might have worked except for an alert school official who became suspicious because the death certificate had "slightly different fonts" which didn't seem to line up properly.  All it took was a call to government officials in Costa Rica who confirmed the certificate was a fake.

Additionally, investigators found plane tickets for the trip to Costa Rica had been purchased three weeks before.  Barnett now faces misdemeanor forgery charges and was fired from her job.

SOURCE: MetroSource