14-year-old girl stole more than $10K from her grandma’s safe and gave it to classmates

A 14-year-old girl is facing felony charges for grand theft after allegedly stealing more than $10,000 from her grandmother’s safe and handing it out to classmates at a Florida middle school.

Marion County deputies responded to Lake Weir Middle School in Summerfield, about 60 miles northwest of Orlando, on Thursday after reports that a student was giving classmates hundreds of dollars each, according to an arrest report.

School officials searched the girl’s backpack and found about $2,500, deputies said. The teen said an unknown former student had given her the money and wanted it disseminated.

Investigators said they later determined that the girl had broken into her grandmother’s home safe and stolen about $13,500 of the woman’s life savings.

The arrest report doesn’t say why the girl allegedly took the money or why she gave it away to her classmates.

By Friday, officials had recovered about $700 of the money that had been handed out to other students. That money and the $2,500 recovered from the girl’s backpack were returned to the grandmother.