Photo: Monica Cherie McVay
An ex-bookkeeper charged with stealing almost $3,400 from the business where she worked appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Fifty-two-year-old Monica Cherie McVay of rural Mountain Home entered a guilty plea to six counts of forgery and theft of property.
She was put on probation for three years. Her attorney, Ben Burnett, told Circuit Judge John Putman his client would pay the victim restitution in full within 10 days.
She is accused of writing checks on the business listing herself as payee.
At the time of the alleged forgeries, she had been working as the bookkeeper for about a year-and-a-half, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Notations on the checks, which were written in April and June last year, falsely showed they were intended to pay for items such as insurance and liquor license fees.
A stamp with the owners name was used on the checks without his authorization.
The victim told investigators he had taken an out-of-town trip, and while speaking to McVay on the telephone, began to suspect there were issues with two of his bank accounts.
He reported he told McVay to bring the bank accounts up-to-date, before he returned.
She is alleged to have quit her job by text message, before the owner returned.
Investigators found that all six checks allegedly forged by McVay had been deleted from the computer bookkeeping program used by the business.
McVay was sentenced under provisions of Act 346, known as the first offenders law. If she does not get in trouble during her probation period, she can apply to the courts to have her record sealed.
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