When someone in Iowa stands accused of a white collar crime, the investigation is an altogether different type than what might be involved in, say, a home burglary. There are rarely witnesses, fingerprints or other types of physical evidence. Rather, the investigation generally involves officials trying to build a case based mostly around paperwork. Such appears to be the situation in Iowa, where a woman is facing embezzlement charges.
The former business office manager stands accused of embezzling over $24,000 from her employer. Allegations claim that during the period between Jan. 2014 and Aug. 2016, she turned in fraudulent time cards, which resulted in overpayments totaling more than $10,000, as well as submitted documents with inaccurate accounts of hours worked and overtime owed. Additionally, the investigation claims the woman used a company credit card to pay for a variety of personal items and wrote unauthorized company checks to reimburse herself for similar personal purchases.
Supposedly, documentation indicates that her unauthorized personal purchases added up to approximately $5,500, with personal electrical work totaling almost as much. Allegedly, unauthorized reimbursement checks and company credit card charges for personal items tallied at over $2,000 as well, according to current official reports. The criminal complaint accuses the woman of then deleting these purchases from the company’s accounting system and supposedly covering the unauthorized expenses by directing funds from another division of the company.
For these accusations and more, the defendant is facing multiple felony charges, including four counts of theft and three counts of unauthorized credit card use, as well as tampering with records. With so many charges leveled against her, the woman’s best chance of a successful outcome in court would likely be to secure the representation of an experienced Iowa criminal defense attorney. Indeed, from building a solid defense case to discussing the option of a plea bargain and more, the knowledge and representation of an attorney can be crucial for anyone accused of embezzlement or other white collar crimes.
Source: siouxcityjournal.com, “Northwest Iowa woman accused of stealing $24K from employer“, Alex Boisjolie, Aug. 9, 2017
