Quincy woman pleads innocent to forgery, theft

Charged with stealing from Ephrata dentist

EPHRATA - An ex-office manager pleaded innocent Tuesday in Grant County Superior Court to charges alleging she stole nearly $18,000 from an Ephrata dentist she once worked for.

Marlys Davis, 36, was charged last week with 16 counts of forgery and one count of first-degree theft. Her trial was set for April 29.

Davis paid the bills while working as an office manager in 2006 at Dr. Eric Walker's office.

She allegedly wrote 17 unapproved checks on his account, with 16 checks to herself. She reportedly deposited one check in a Moses Lake man's account as an apparent bodybuilding sponsorship and also traveled to Florida to watch him compete, according to court documents.

Walker reportedly told Ephrata Police he monitored the checking account for six months upon taking over the business. Walker stopped watching the account because he trusted Davis, according to court records.

When Walker returned from vacation in November 2006, Davis quit her job and Walker reportedly found discrepancies, according to court documents.

Bills for employees' health insurance, office supplies and taxes allegedly weren't made, according to court records. Davis reportedly told a co-worker the insurance company was at fault, court documents state.

Walker's lawyer reportedly gave Davis until Feb. 5 to respond to a letter offering her a chance to pay the money back.

She allegedly wrote she did not want the incident to become ugly and was willing to repay the money but not admit guilt, according to court records.

In a second letter to Walker, she claimed about $8,000 of the alleged stolen money was a $6,000 raise she received before Walker took over the business. The remaining portion of the money, $2,800, was a percentage of the business agreed upon by her and the business's former owner, Dr. Margaret Sullivan, Davis claimed.

Davis reportedly canceled a meeting with Walker to discuss the matter and threatened to sue him for slander, according to court documents. As a result, Walker decided to call the police.

Sullivan told an investigator anything she may have promised before the sale of the business was no longer valid. A sales contract of the business was shown to Ephrata Police and reportedly confirmed Sullivan's statement.