Former Dairy Bookkeeper Charged with 19 Counts of Grand Theft
GOODING, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) A former Box Canyon Dairy bookkeeper is charged with 19 counts of felony grand theft.
Stephanie Wells is accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from a dairy located in Wendell, which is in the process of being liquidated.
According to court documents, the owner of the dairy contacted the Gooding County Sheriff's Office once he suspected the misuse of funds.
He told a police detective that he found a $10,000 Box Canyon check made out to a construction company. Once he contacted the construction company, he learned the payment was for work done on Wells’ personal home located in Jerome.
He also found several checks were written by Wells and used to pay a Discover credit card. When searching the cabinets at the dairy office, he discovered a credit card receipt that had Wells' name on it.
The owner hired another accountant to investigate the missing money. They were able to show a police detective the transactions in a QuickBooks account that had been changed from Discover credit card payments to instead reflect bills being paid for Box Canyon Dairy.
The owner admitted to police he would sign blank checks for Wells to use to pay invoices for the dairy.
Court documents said records indicated Wells received a loan for $175,000 from the dairy to purchase a home. Through the account records she was able to use funds intended for the dairy to make it appear as though she was repaying the loan.
The total amount of payments made to Discover from the Box Canyon Dairy account totaled $461,586.43. Through a recorded phone conversation, Wells denied having a Discover card.
According to Toppenish Livestock Commission in Washington state, who was handling the sale of the diary, Box Canyon Dairy was to sell 17,000 head in December.