CLEARFIELD – A Ridgway woman was sentenced Monday to serve time in jail for stealing over $11,000 from her employer.
Chelsea Elizabeth Spyres, 31, pleaded guilty before Judge Paul E. Cherry to felony theft by unlawful taking and a misdemeanor count of tampering with records during sentencing court.
Cherry sentenced her to 45 days to one year in jail and two years consecutive probation.
It was noted that she paid $11,429.55 in restitution prior to sentencing.
The charges stem from her actions from June of 2017 to November of 2019 while she was employed by a medical practice in DuBois.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the thefts were discovered after a new employee started handling the deposits.
This employee told investigators that Spyres started getting to the office before her, so Spyres could do the deposits herself.
After a discrepancy was found by the new employee in December of 2019, the owner’s husband went through the older deposits and found other differences in the bank deposits as well as losses in their petty cash fund.
When she was interviewed by investigators, in January of 2020, Spyres admitted to taking $154 from petty cash for her continuing education credits without getting permission from the doctor.
As the interview progressed, she began acting uneasy and refused to look at the officer talking with her.
She then asked what would happen to the person who took the money and “if I said I did it, what happens then?”
The officer than asked if she wanted to talk about it, and she agreed saying “Yes, yes, I took the money.”
She explained that every so often she would “reach into the bag and take some cash.”
She admitted she didn’t keep track of how much she took, and told herself: “I would try and give it back.”
She stated she thought she had a gambling problem and it was her first time admitting to that.
