A speech pathologist who received paychecks from the Cherry Creek School District despite turning down a job and ripping up the checks, feared the error would saddle her with $8,300 in debt and ding her credit report.

The uncorrected error also exposed Stephanie LoPresti to nearly $100 in interest fees on money she never had.

Given the taxpayer money and the public trust, LoPresti wondered: “How good is their bookkeeping?”

Lauren Snell, a Cherry Creek spokesperson, said the error occurred during the transition to a new payroll system and that the checks were canceled when discovered.

“The district filed a corrected W2 with the IRS, indicating she was paid in error and that she earned no wages,” Snell said in an email to the Denver Gazette. “Given that report, she should not have any tax liability. We regret that this error occurred during this transition.”

The events first unfolded in September 2021 when LoPresti applied for a position with Cherry Creek School District in Arapahoe County, which is consistently ranked among the best in the state.

She ultimately turned down the job because of the pay.

Roughly a month later, LoPresti received a paycheck from the school district.

LoPresti tore up the check and reported the error to Sara Fukunaga in Human Resources in a Nov. 27, 2021 email.

“As you recall I did not take this position,” LoPresti wrote. “I have ripped up the check, but I want to ensure no further checks are sent. Please rectify this with payroll.”

But the checks kept coming.

LoPresti said she received two more checks, totaling $8,269.

“Luckily, nobody took my mail and cashed those checks,” said LoPresti, 38, of Boston.

In February, after receiving an invoice requesting repayment, LoPresti emailed the district again, asking they correct the error.

“We have corrected our system and voided the checks that were sent to you in error since you were never employed at Cherry Creek School District,” Mary MacDonald, the district’s payroll/AP manager, wrote in an email to LoPresti on Feb. 11, 2022.

MacDonald added, “We will be sending you a W2-C (Correction) form in the mail to you for you to file with your taxes.”

LoPresti, who has worked in a number of school districts including Denver Public Schools, breathed a sigh of relief.

Fast forward ten months.

At the end of December, LoPresti received a notice from Alpine Credit, a debt collections agency in Arvada, demanding repayment and $94.25 in interest fees.

LoPresti said she called her dad crying.

A traveling speech pathologist with more than a decade of experience, LoPresti said she worried about the impact on her credit report and her ability to find suitable housing for her next move.

LoPresti said she called the collections agency and reached out to the school district, to no effect.

Scott Allely, founder of Alpine Credit, said a notification such as the one LoPresti received doesn’t result in an automatic hit to an individual’s credit score. Typically, debt collectors will wait 45-to-60 days before credit agencies, he said.

Allely told the Denver Gazette Wednesday that the school had district acknowledged and corrected the error.

That was news to LoPresti.

“This is what is so strange to me,” LoPresti said. “Why wouldn’t they have told me this?”