EVERETT — Two women are expected in court this week to answer to allegations that they embezzled money to finance their gambling habits.
Michele Huntley, 45, is accused of stealing more than $2 million from an Everett roofing company, where she worked as a bookkeeper for 12 years. Prosecutors allege Jeannine Hall, 44, stole thousands from two nonprofits, including the parent teacher association at Park Place Middle School in Monroe.
Huntley is charged with multiple felonies, including theft, identity theft and forgery. She is due in Snohomish County Superior Court on Tuesday. Hall is charged with two counts of first-degree theft and is expected to be arraigned Friday. She is accused of also stealing from the Stillaguamish Valley Horseman Club, where she was treasurer.
Court documents say both women committed the thefts over years.
Huntley was hired at Masterwork Roofing in Everett in 2004. The business was founded in 1980 and at one time employed more than 30 roofers. The owner questioned Huntley in 2014 after payments for two large jobs didn’t show up on any receipts or receivable accounts.
“Her answers were evasive and he suspected she was lying so he pressed,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Teresa Cox wrote in court papers.
Huntley allegedly confessed to taking money from the business for “at least a year or two.” She admitted to diverting checks from customers, and told the man the total was “over $100,000,” court papers said. Huntley told her boss she had a gambling problem. He fired her and called police.
Everett police pieced together the trail Huntley allegedly left behind. She reportedly kept a bank account open that the owner thought was closed. Huntley allegedly diverted checks from businesses and customers to that account. She would then make regular withdrawals from the account for her own personal use without the owner’s knowledge, Cox wrote.
An audit of the accounts showed that Huntley embezzled about $2.1 million between 2008 and 2014. The investigation also revealed a pattern of intermittent deposits back to the business bank account when its balance ran too low, Cox wrote. Huntley deposited about $143,000 over the years.
Huntley reportedly forged hundreds of checks.
The owner told police that Huntley was a salaried employee who made about $550 a week. His business took a hit in 2008 with the recession. The man told investigators that he used his own money to keep the business afloat. He also said a few years ago he told Huntley he needed to lay her off because he couldn’t afford to pay her. She agreed to take a pay cut and told the man she’d collect unemployment, too, Cox wrote.
The Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office received state funding last year to tackle cases such as Huntley’s. Cox participates in the regional Identity Theft Task Force, and she is obligated to prioritize cases with the highest impact, including allegations of major economic loss or identity theft rings that cross multiple jurisdictions, Snohomish County chief criminal deputy prosecutor Joan Cavagnaro said.
Cox also has assisted with the backlog of lower priority identity theft cases, Cavagnaro said.
Hall’s case came to the attention of law enforcement last year. The principal at Park Place Middle School called to report a theft from the parent teacher association’s account. Hall had been the treasurer. The association disbanded in June 2015 but was recreated again a few months later. The new board attempted to obtain financial records from Hall, who allegedly “stonewalled” the group.
They eventually obtained the bank records and determined that about $13,000 had been siphoned out of the account, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Michael Boska wrote.
Detectives concluded that Hall made withdrawals from the account from the Quil Ceda Casino on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. She also paid her cable bill and bought groceries, according to court papers.
During the same time, Hall was the treasurer for the nonprofit Stillaguamish Valley Horseman Club. She allegedly changed all the personal identification numbers on the bank account so she’d be the only one with access, according to court papers.
She allegedly withdrew nearly $9,000 from the group’s account at cash machines at the Tulalip Casino. Nearly $20,0000 was missing from the club’s coffers, investigators wrote.
Hall was first arrested in January in connection with the Monroe school theft. She was arrested again in March as part of the investigation into the horse club case.
She told police she was completely stressed out. She later declined to talk to detectives.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
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