A Florence woman accused of embezzling more than $230,000 from an architecture firm while employed as its bookkeeper pleaded not guilty on Tuesday in a Missoula courtroom.
Linda Harris is facing felony charges after her then employer, CTA Architects, say they discovered $237,000 in "questionable" expenses between December of 2001 and June of 2009 while being employed at their Missoula office.
Harris admitted to taking $10,000 to $15,000 of CTA funds to help her son as he went through "a tough time" in his marriage.
Back on June 19th, she sent a letter to CTA explaining she would pay the money back. But an investigation by CTA found that Harris forged checks to make payments for student loans, a Verizon cell phone account, and a Costco card.
She has also since resigned as a trustee on the Florence School Board, citing personal reasons.
(from November 16, 2009) A Former Florence School Board Trustee has been accused of embezzling more than $230,000 from a prominent Montana architecture firm while being employed as their bookkeeper.
Linda Harris appeared in a Missoula County courtroom and is facing felony charges after her then-employer, CTA architects, says they discovered $237,000 in "questionable" expenses between December of 2001 and June of 2009 while she was employed at their Missoula office.
She resigned Friday from the Florence School Board citing personal reasons.
Court Documents say Harris admitted to taking $10,000 to $15,000 of CTA funds to help her son as he went through "a tough time" in his marriage.
She sent a letter to CTA on June 19th, explaining she would pay the money back, but as CTA investigated further through an internal audit they found Harris forged checks to pay for student loan payments, a Verizon cell phone account and make payments to a Costco Card. She also used the money to pay for clothing, tools tires and a refrigerator.
Florence School Superintendent John McGee told us that says they have called a special board meeting for Wednesday to accept Harris' resignation. He added that he wasn't aware of the felony allegations against her.
Her next court appearance is set for December.
