BREAKING: Woman allegedly embezzles more than $70,000 during time as head of accounting for Union Township company
An East Tawas woman was arrested for allegedly embezzling more than $70,000 over two years from her Union Township employer.
Gwenda Lynn Hayes, 38, took the money from Fisher Transportation Inc., 900 S. Bradley St., between January 2008 and September 2010, said Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski.
Hayes was charged with embezzlement between $50,000 and $100,000, tampering with evidence and using the internet/computer for communicating with a person while committing a crime.
“She would take sometime thousands at a time,” Mioduszewski said. “This went on over the course of the two years.”
She was the head of accounting at Fisher, according to a press release from the sheriff’s department. Miouduszewski said she believed she was terminated in September for the offense and then a formal investigation was launched by his department.
The charges carry a maximum charge of 40 years, along with up to $55,000 in fines. She was charged with using a computer to commit a crime when she accessed bank accounts and other things online.
“Anytime you commit a crime using the internet, a computer, a computer network... it’s a crime in itself,” Mioduszewski said.
Hayes turned herself in, along with her attorney, straight to the magistrate to be arraigned. She immediately posted her bond, which was set at $40,000 or a 10 percent cash surety, and was never lodged at the Isabella County Jail.
A preliminary examination was scheduled for 8:15 a.m. on Dec. 9 in courtroom 3.
