BM not returning childs fundraising money

[jcsct5]

SD took candy that I purchased for her to raise funds for a school field trip with her to BM.  I have been informed that BM took the candy from SD and sold it for her.  Bm is refusing to return the money to SD or to me.  She has offered to make a direct payment to the school for the amount of the proceeds, however part of the money earned is to go towards reimbursing me for the cost of purchasing the candy to begin with.

We have emailed her and SD has asked her directly for the money.  The emails have been ignored and she has told SD she will not return the money.  We also suggested that she purchase new candy for SD to sell over here and then we would use those funds to reimburse our expenses.

1) Is there anything we can do to make her return the money? Any suggestions would be appreciated as our second payment is due shortly.

[socrateaser]

>1) Is there anything we can do to make her return the money?
>Any suggestions would be appreciated as our second payment is
>due shortly.

Generally, when you purchase candy to sell for a fund raising, you are donating the cost of your purchase. Now, if you're saying that you went to the store and bought some candy and told your SD that she could sell it and that any profit would be for the fundraising, but that you wanted your costs back, and you told the other parent that you never intended to make a donation of the candy to the child, then the other parent's taking of the money from the sale would ordinarily be a trespassory taking of your property with the intent to permanently deprive.

In other words, a petty theft. So, tell the other parent to either pay you back the money or you'll call the police and report her as having stolen your money. But, if you're talking about $50 or less, then I suggest that you just chalk it up to experience and write it off of your tax return as a charitable donation.