EVERETT — A bookkeeper who stole roughly $200,000 from a Snohomish company was sentenced Thursday to a year in prison and ordered to pay restitution.
Elizabeth A. Branham, 43, pleaded guilty to stealing the money from A
merican Building and Roofing, Inc.
Audits confirmed multiple instances where cash was diverted and ledger entries faked between January 2009 and May 2010, court papers said.
She acknowledged her misdeeds during a Snohomish County Superior Court hearing Thursday.
“What I have done is so wrong,” she said. “… This is my mistake, and I own up to it.”
The Gold Bar woman told Judge George Bowden that she didn’t steal the money to support a lavish lifestyle. Rather, she said, it was part of a psychological issue in which she would steal money to try to help other people.
More than 30 letters of support were submitted on her behalf.
Prosecutors and Branham’s defense lawyer agreed to recommend a year in prison during plea negotiations. It is more than the state’s standard sentencing guidelines of up to 90 days in jail for first-degree theft.
At the same time, prosecutors argued that the hefty amount and her position of trust as a bookkeeper warranted a stiffer sentence.
Bowden said he might have been inclined to impose a longer term if lawyers from both sides hadn’t agreed on a recommendation.
He called it “a very deliberate, calculating decision to steal from your employer.”
Company executive Marc Morgan said the theft affected the wholesale building supply business. About half of the loss was covered by insurance but “who knows the true extent of the loss,” he said.
“My employees have picked up the slack that Elizabeth has left us with,” he said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
