Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 14, 1990 TAG: 9007140361
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: MONICA DAVEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
Shari F. Mullins, who was hired by the downtown revitalization group in August 1987 to handle financial records and secretarial duties, was found guilty of two counts of grand larceny and two counts of forgery in Bedford County Circuit Court.
Between November 1988 and early 1990, Mullins took $13,425 from Bedford Main Street, which has an annual budget of $65,000, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Philip Baker told the judge.
Mullins, who has cooperated with authorities since they began an investigation, helped explain the complicated scheme, Bedford City Police Sgt. Mel Massey testified Friday.
Massey described elements of the plot as follows:
Mullins sent a letter to Bedford Main Street's bank authorizing herself to use the organization's credit card.
The letter bore the signature of Janie Mantooth, who was director of Bedford Main Street at that time. Mullins had apparently photocopied Mantooth's signature and managed to attach it to the letter, Massey said.
In response, the bank gave Mullins an authorization code needed to use the card and she began making cash withdrawals from a money machine in Bedford using the card.
Aside from the $200 cash withdrawals, Mullins forged Bedford Main Street officials' names to write checks to make payments on the credit card accounts. Baker said Mullins did that to "make it look like those accounts were not running through the roof."
Mullins, who had control of the checkbooks and access to the credit card, would destroy the forged checks when they were returned from the bank.
She also diverted money sent to the organization's "welcome service" to pay for some of the credit card bills. Money sent to the welcome service was not recorded in a ledger anywhere, Massey said, so the missing money went unnoticed.
Bedford Main Street officials caught onto the missing funds this year - sometime after Mullins, 26, was asked to resign from the organization because of some odd phone calls.
One January day, Mullins missed work, leaving the organization's other paid employee - newly appointed director Linda Kochendarfer - alone in the office, Massey testified.
As the day wore on, several collect phone calls arrived for Mullins. Kochendarfer decided to confront Mullins about the expensive calls.
Mullins told Kochendarfer she had made calls and accepted calls from her friends out of loneliness and quickly agreed to resign.
In February, Mullins came to Kochendarfer and confessed to having used the credit card. She gave Kochendarfer $2,000 in cash, which Mullins said would make up for the amount she had taken as well as interest.
After looking through financial records, Bedford Main Street officials took the matter to the Bedford City Police Department March 9 for an investigation that resulted in Mullins' arrest.
Circuit Judge William Sweeney will sentence Mullins after a presentencing report is submitted.
Aside from a possible jail sentence, Mullins is expected to be asked to pay back the taxpayer-supported organization for the money she is convicted of stealing, as well as for a $666 phone bill.
At the time of the crimes, Mullins was going through a period of financial trouble and her 3-year-old child was suffering serious medical problems, her attorney told Sweeney on Friday.
Public Defender Webster Hogeland also stressed his client's cooperation with investigators.
Confessing was actually a great relief for Mullins, Hogeland said. "She was struggling with an enormous amount of guilt," he said. "And she still is today."
Mullins, who spoke in a barely audible voice as she entered her guilty plea, said little else during the hearing.
Sweeney, who did not set a sentencing date, told Mullins, "The more difficult part of this case for me will be at sentencing."
by CNB