A Savona woman charged with embezzling more than 50-THOUSAND dollars from a Benton business pled guilty to felony grand larceny charges in Yates County Court.
Patricia Spears admitted that while working as a bookkeeper at DeWick Equipment Sales and Service, she wrote out numerous checks payable to herself between March of 2010 and September of last year and forged her employer's signature.
The admission is part of a plea deal that will see Spears offered a reduced sentence of 3 to 9 years in prison instead of a possible 15 years.
The 52 year old Spears must also pay back more than 77-THOUSAND dollars in restitution to DeWick. Investigators say once Spears wrote the checks to herself, she attempted to conceal the forgeries and thefts by making false entries in the business records that the checks had been made out to other individuals and businesses.
