MUKILTEO — David Gluth applied for a loan for his contract flooring company in Mukilteo in 2015.
But instead of asking his business partner about it, Gluth and his bookkeeper forged a driver’s license in the co-owner’s name.
“I’m doing it without (his) knowledge,” Gluth reportedly wrote in an instant message at the time. “If anything goes wrong, it won’t be good.”
The ploy was part of a six-year scheme between Gluth and his bookkeeper to steal hundreds of thousands of company funds behind his partner’s back.
After a five-day trial, a jury convicted bookkeeper Jodi Hamrick on Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle for her role in defrauding Gluth Contract Flooring in Mukilteo. From 2011 to 2016, Hamrick and Gluth, the company’s co-owner, schemed to steal company funds for mortgages, vacations and Nordstrom bills, prosecutors allege.
The jury found Hamrick guilty on four counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of conspiracy.
“Committing fraud was as routine for Jodi Hamrick as having her morning cup of coffee,” assistant U.S. attorney Mike Dion reportedly told the jury in closing arguments.
Gluth and his business partner had opened the flooring company at 12201 Cyrus Way in May 2007, agreeing to be equal partners, court documents say. The agreement barred Gluth from making certain financial decisions without his partner’s approval.
Hamrick was hired as a bookkeeper in 2011, according to court documents. Gluth and the defendant opened at least three bank accounts in the company’s name at Wells Fargo Bank, Bank of America and Whidbey Island Bank, without telling the business partner.
For nearly six years, Gluth and Hamrick diverted company funds to secret accounts, also using those accounts to receive funds and make payments from unauthorized loans, charges say. They reportedly communicated through Skype instant message to devise their plan.
The defendants used hundreds of thousands of diverted funds for groceries, credit card bills, medical expenses, liquor, mortgage payments, vacations and clothing, according to the charges.
In 2013, Hamrick and Gluth forged an IRS tax form to apply for a loan of over $120,000 at Main Street Business Loans without the authorization of his business partner, prosecutors allege. They received at least four other loans, using fraudulent tax forms in the coming years.
In 2015, the defendants arranged for a sale of $143,000 in company assets to a financial business company behind the co-owner’s back, court documents say. The business bought it for $100,000.
In December 2015, the co-owner filed legal action against the two in King County Superior Court. In an initial deposition, both Gluth and Hamrick denied any wrongdoing.
In 2016, the company went bankrupt. An FBI investigation found over $1 million was lost through improper personal purchases, improper disposal of assets and unauthorized debt incurred at the business.
Prosecutors filed federal charges against Hamrick and Gluth in 2020.
Gluth pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in January 2021. A federal judge sentenced him to two years in prison and ordered him to pay $325,000 in restitution.
Hamrick’s sentencing is scheduled for April 26.
Maya Tizon: 425-339-3434; maya.tizon@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @mayatizon.
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