CLEARFIELD – A DuBois woman accused of taking more than $90,000 from her employer over a period of years recently pleaded guilty in Clearfield County Court.
Dana M. Stivers, 46, 318 Kuntz St., DuBois, pleaded guilty to 100 counts of theft by deception. She was sentenced to nine months to four years in state prison and was fined $1,110 plus costs. She must pay restitution of more than $92,000.
She apologized to the victim, adding she couldn’t imagine the betrayal he felt. She said she was just trying to take care of her children.
“I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me,” she said. Stivers stated she would repay him as soon as possible.
Her attorney, Curtis Irwin argued for a county sentence, as he explained she is currently working and could continue to do this if she were kept at the county jail.
Clearfield County President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman stated he gave her a state prison sentence due to the severity of the charges, the amount of time involved and because it was an employee theft. In May Ammerman rejected a plea for a 90-day jail sentence if she paid $10,000 in restitution prior to sentencing or six months if she did not pay it before sentencing.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, in December of 2011, police were contacted by a bank employee regarding a local doctor who suspected money was being stolen from his account by an employee. The victim told police that he thought Stivers, who was in charge of paying bills for his practice, was also writing checks to herself without permission. His procedure for bill paying involved her advising him that a bill needed to be paid. He would then sign a blank check believing it was being used to pay that bill. He stated he did not authorize any checks from that account to be issued to Stivers. The victim was able to provide copies of the checks made out to Stivers from 2005 to 2011.
When police interviewed Stivers in January 2012 she admitted to writing the checks to herself and putting them into her personal checking account.
