Barbara Topham Vicknair, 60, of Morgan City, Louisiana, has been arrested and charged with embezzling more than $100,000 from the Lower St. Martin Parish Water and Sewer District where she had been employed as office manager. Vicknair was charged with 383 counts of monetary instrument abuse, as well as charges of malfeasance and injuring public records. Vicknair was a 30 year employee of the utility.
Miles K. Hummer, 70, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has been accused by authorities of embezzling nearly $117,000 from the Goldsboro Fire Company No. 1, where he had served as treasurer for nearly two decades. Hummer, who is also the owner of the Goldsboro Marina, recently suffered a stroke, according to reports. He is charged with felony counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received, theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception and receiving stolen property and has yet to be arraigned, due to Hummer's health condition. Authorities suspect Hummer in a second embezzlement matter involving a separate volunteer fire department. Hummer's thefts went undetected for seven years, according to investigators.
Brandi Marcella Madewell of Bakersfield, California, is under investigation for allegedly embezzling more than $350,000 in insurance premiums from the Kern County Public Employees Association, Local 521, of the Service Employees International Union. According to authorities, Madewell admitted to investigators that she stole the money to pay Internet gambling debts and other personal expenses. Madewell was employed by the local's Kern County Public Employee's Insurance Agency, doing business as Valley Benefits Inc.
Amanda Catherine Heiny, 32, of Austin, Minnesota, has pleaded guilty to embezzling $130,000 from a client of the Craig Ensign Law firm where she had been employed as a secretary. Heiny was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $130,000. Authorities alleged that Heiny transferred funds from a law firm's client estate to her own accounts over a four year period. Heiny was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and must serve 200 hours of community service. She was originally charged last September.
Laura Colletti, 51, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzling some $425,000 from client trust accounts of local attorney David Zendell. Colletti, who pled guilty to theft by deception last March, transferred funds from the trust accounts to her own and used some of the monies to pay for personal expenses, including credit card bills. Colletti had reportedly been employed by the unnamed attorney for 18 years. Her scheme allegedly spanned a 9 year period.
Darla J. Spooner, 47, of Rootstown, Ohio, was indicted on one count of grand theft in connection with her alleged embezzlement of some $110,000 from Neighborhood Development Services, Inc. in nearby Ravenna, where she had been employed as a finance assistant. Authorities believe Spooner's thefts date back to at least March 2007 and continued until last week, although a forensic accounting investigation has not yet been completed.
Errin Leigh Ellzey, 37, of Bailey, Colorado, was sentenced to only 30 days in jail for embezzling $232,480 from Moore Lumber where she had been employed as a bookkeeper. Ellzey was also ordered to pay full restitution and subject to 6 years probation. Ellzey was arrested last November on the suspicion that she had only taken about $15,000. She plead guilty in May to one count of felony theft. Authorities alleged that Ellzey made unauthorized payments to personal accounts with Moore Lumber checks over a nearly 2 year period, from November 2007 to August 2009. Her apparent light sentence was due, in part, to the fact that she reportedly has already paid back $86,464.
Dennis Lee Solin, 61, of Eugene, Oregon, reportedly committed suicide by gunshot last month after he learned he was suspected of embezzling more than $1 million from the Life Connection Foundation, a local charitable organization for which he had served as volunteer treasurer. Solin was an accountant and financial advisor to clients in the Eugene area through his firm, Solin Financial Services, LLC. He was reportedly a prominent and well-connected businessman in Eugene. In letter to his wife, Linda, Solin reportedly admitted that he had stolen from the charity over an 8-9 year period and stated, “I have messed up my life now, your life and the kids...I have permanently screwed up the family name, I will forever be remorseful for this..." Linda Solin subsequently filed for divorce after 40 years of marriage to Dennis. According to authorities, Solin made 28 unauthorized withdrawals from the foundation’s account between 2003 and this spring. A full accounting of the loss to the foundation has not yet been completed, but it is expected to exceed $1 million.
Janet Crutchfield Johnson, 58, of Wilmington, North Carolina, has been charged with embezzling nearly $600,000 from Tinney Painting Inc. where she had been employed as an office manager in charge of check writing and other bookkeeping duties. She is accused of writing checks to herself. The StarNews reports Wilmington Police detective Mike Overton, who is in charge of the investigation, as saying of embezzlement cases, “It’s always the office manager it seems. The owner of the business is tied up in running the business, and they trust their office managers to do the right thing.” Unfortunately, many don't.
Linda Ann Marie Palermo, 41, of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, has been accused of embezzling some $193,000 from two townships she was employed by as a part-time administrator and collections secretary. According to prosecutors, Palermo embezzled $27,855.77 from Lower Gwynedd township and $165,387.49 from West Conshohocken township. Palermo reportedly was able to make additional salary payments to herself with unauthorized checks as well as to make direct payments to third party personal vendors for her own benefit. Palermo's schemes spanned a nearly 9 year period from August 2001 until this past April. Some of the stolen funds were used to pay for her mortgage, overseas vacations, cruises and a 1994 Corvette. She is reported to have confessed to authorities and is quoted as saying that she was able to get away with her embezzlement for so long because, "nobody was checking on what I did."
Kathy Koonts Sechriest, 53, of Thomasville, North Carolina, was arrested and charged yesterday with embezzling some $186,000 from the Zion United Church of Christ where she had served as church secretary. She has been charged with embezzlement of greater than $100,000. Details are sketchy at this time.
