Last week a bookkeeper, Ms. Gonzalez, was accused of felony theft for taking in excess of $42,000 from her employer. Ms. Gonzalez was hired by a Houston demolition company as a bookkeeper. She was not authorized to sign on the company’s checks. However, in April of 2013 she is accused of changing the cash amount of her payroll check from $450 to $1450 and then she allegedly began adding a two instead of a one to increase her pay by $2,000.
The company owner discovered her actions when by luck he received a notice that the account was overdrawn. Generally, up until this point Ms. Gonzalez allegedly took the overdraft notices before her boss saw them. Ms. Gonzalez has a history of forgery and theft.
Ms. Gonzalez is charged with a third degree felony because the amount she stole was over 20,000 and less than 100,000. Additionally, the State generally takes cases of employee theft especially seriously. It is important to note that she has not been convicted of any offense and although we are aware of some of the evidence that is claimed to exist against her there are many aspects of the case that are still unclear and could possibly raise defenses for her.