HARRISBURG – Attorney General Tom Corbett announced that Pennsylvania State Police have filed criminal charges against two Venango county residents accused of conspiring to steal more than $100,000 in cash and merchandise from a Venango County business.
Corbett identified the defendants as Charlotte Jean Huston, 51, Titusville and David Richard Gilmore Jr., 54, Oil City. Prior to March 2004, both Huston and Gilmore were employed by Grandview Estates Furniture and Manufactured Housing, Inc.
Corbett said that Huston and Gilmore allegedly used their positions with Grandview Estates to steal from the business – redirecting cash, checks and credit card payments for their own personal use as well as obtaining thousands of dollars worth of furniture for themselves and family members without paying for the merchandise.
Evidence and testimony about the conspiracy and thefts was presented before a statewide investigating grand jury, which recommended the criminal charges that were filed today.
According to the grand jury, Huston used her position as a bookkeeper for Grandview Estates to alter daily bank deposit slips and redirect cash and credit card payments that were owed to Grandview. Additionally, the grand jury found that Huston and Gilmore used their positions as sales persons to access computers and credit card records in order to take furniture without paying for it.
Corbett said that according to the grand jury, a review of financial records following the dismissal of Huston and Gilmore determined that between January 2000 and February 2004 in excess of $100,000 was misdirected from Grandview Estate accounts.
Huston and Gilmore are both charged with one count each of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds and criminal conspiracy to commit theft by deception. Those charges are all third-degree felonies, each punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
Huston and Gilmore were preliminarily arraigned today before Seneca, Venango County, Magisterial District Judge Douglas I. Dinberg and released on $10,000 unsecured bail. Preliminary hearings for both defendants are scheduled for May 23, 2007, before Magisterial District Judge Dinberg.
The case will be prosecuted in Venango County by Deputy Attorney General L. Todd Goodwin of the Attorney General’s Criminal Prosecution Section.
Corbett thanked the Pennsylvania State Police for their cooperation and assistance with this investigation.