Woman charged with embezzling from rural non-profit educational group she led

A woman has been charged with embezzling $15,000 from the Rainbow literacy and Learning Society while she was its executive director.

Mounties have charged a woman with stealing more than $15,000 from a Vulcan non-profit educational society while she served as its executive director. Rainbow Literacy and Learning Society said it alerted police in September of last year to a suspected case of fraud. “The executive director had been using the society credit card for personal use and stole over $15,000 from the society,” RCMP said in a press release.

As a result, Vulcan resident Barbara Moore-Coffey, 58, was charged on July 8 with forgery, fraud, criminal breach of trust, using and possessing forged documents, drawing and executing a document without authorization and three counts of theft. Moore-Coffey, who no longer works for the society, is to appear in Lethbridge court on Aug. 19. According to their website, Rainbow Literacy and Learning provides free educational programming for children, youths, adults and families in Vulcan, 120 km southeast of Calgary.

Moore-Coffey’s LinkedIn page states she was a Vulcan town councillor from 2021 to 2025 and since January of this year contracted by Calgary’s Brenda Stafford Foundation as a grants and partnerships specialist. BKaufmann@postmedia.com X: @BillKaufmannjrn