Moses Lake bookkeeper pleads guilty to forgery

EPHRATA — A Moses Lake bookkeeper pleaded guilty to stealing $189,564 from her employer for three years.

Karen Ann Harvill, 51, pleaded guilty in Grant County Superior Court to seven counts of forgery. The original charge of theft in the first degree was dropped as part of the plea agreement.

Prosecutors plan to recommend the woman serve a year and a month in prison for the crimes, and pay about $200,000 in restitution to her employer and its insurance company, according to court records. The sentencing range for Harvill’s crimes is a year to a year and two months.

The Total Employment and Management office manager learned about the theft when a client called. As the office manager searched for an answer, she discovered Harvill wrote 191 checks to herself from the company’s payroll account between August 2006 and July 2009, according to a Moses Lake police report.

When police asked why the theft wasn’t discovered sooner, the officer manager explained Harvill was responsible for reconciling the account and large amounts of money flowed through it daily.

Harvill admitted to police she wrote the checks, saying her husband left her a large amount of money when he died and she got used to having money.

Prosecutor Angus Lee was not available for comment.