A Hardwick woman is accused of stealing nearly $13,000 from her former employer, Southwest Youth Services in Magnolia, where she worked as business manager.
Felony theft charges were filed against 28-year-old Amber Christine Shaw in Rock County District Court Friday, July 5, after bookkeeping discrepancies led to her termination.
According to the complaint, Southwestern Youth Services director Don Johnson contacted Rock County law enforcement on May 30 regarding Shaw’s alleged theft.
He said he terminated Shaw a week prior after noticing discrepancies in payroll and paid time off reporting and that she seemed to be taking a lot of time off.
He said she was paying herself for extra hours without documenting the time she had taken off.
When Johnson confronted her about it during her termination, she reportedly told him she was sorry, but thought she deserved more pay.
After further examining the books, he found that she reportedly put $100 into her health savings account instead of the contracted $22.50 and changed paid time off accrual from 4 to 5 percent.
The most significant discrepancy was a $5,000 check from a county that was deposited into one of the “canteen” accounts rather than its designated account.
The books showed that she later wrote a $5,000 check for cash to herself on Dec. 24, 2018. On six other transactions, she wrote $500 checks from the canteen accounts for cash.
Johnson told investigators there would be no reason for Shaw to write checks for cash from those accounts.
He also noted that after she had been terminated, she had contacted Minnwest Bank to have the account statements no longer mailed to SYS.
Johnson told local law enforcement he contacted a forensic accountant about checking the company’s financial accounts, and on June 17 those documents were turned in to the Rock County Sheriff’s Office.
They showed $4,446.17 in payroll discrepancies and $8,520 in checks written to Shaw for cash for a total of $12,966.17 in alleged theft.
On July 2, Rock County Investigator Jeff Wieneke conducted a recorded interview with Shaw at the Law Enforcement Center after hearing her Miranda rights and waiving her right to have an attorney present.
She said she’d been employed by SYS for four years and was business manager since 2017. When told of the forensic accounting discoveries, Shaw said the cash was for students.
When asked about the $5,000 check in December 2018, Shaw said it was for weight equipment purchased from Craigslist and the seller had requested cash. Johnson said the only weight equipment purchased at SYS was for $300, and it had been a year ago.
When asked if it was her handwriting on the checks in question, she confirmed it was, and then she requested an attorney. She also said she was surprised Johnson hadn’t talked to her about what was going on with the accounts.
The complaint states that Shaw went on to say she had been writing checks out for cash and then depositing the cash into the First Dakota National Bank account. Deposit records for First National, however, didn’t corroborate this claim.
Shaw was then arrested and transported to the Nobles County Jail in Worthington. She faces a felony charge of theft by check, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail and a $20,000 fine.