CLEARFIELD – A woman accused of stealing more than $9,000 from the Clearfield County Society for Handicapped & Disabled Citizens waived her right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday at the Clearfield County Jail.
Julie M. Bain, 56, of Clearfield has been charged with 184 counts of theft by deception. Her bail has been set at $50,000 unsecured.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, in September of 2012, Clearfield Borough police received a report about funds missing from the CCSHDC. Funds were reportedly being used; however, bills were not getting paid out.
Bain, the affidavit states, became the person of interest, as it was her responsibility to pay the bills. As a result, police obtained all of the checks Bain had written out to her daughter, Audra Graham, as well as all of those she’d written to herself from 2010 through 2012.
From June until December of 2010, 17 checks were written to Graham for a total of $2,955. From January to October of 2011, 17 checks were written to Graham for a total of $3,902.25. And, from January until September of 2012, 11 checks were written to Graham for a total of $2,165. Over the three-year period, checks written totaled $9,022.25.
In an interview with police, Graham related that at the time in 2010, her husband was laid off, and she asked her mother, Bain, to help them out. Approximately two days later, Bain told her to come to the CCSHDC for a check, as Bain had been advised they could help. Graham told police she asked for help several times; however, sometimes, Bain would give her a check, have her cash it and bring money back for CCSHDC bills.
Bain received pay checks in the amount of $258.94 after taxes from January until July of 2010, at which time they stopped. In March, Bain started cashing checks in different amounts to herself and continued until September of 2012. Police received copies of the checks she’d written to herself over three years, which were in excess of the amount she should have been paid for the hours she’d worked.
Bain, the affidavit states, became executive director at the CCSHDC and used her position to write checks to herself and Graham. She also reportedly went to “great lengths to cover up” her actions by removing documents and mail from the CCSHDC office and hiding them. Bain, the affidavit states, was paid the first and 15th day of each month and the payroll book appeared up-to-date but wasn’t correct.
