Police charge Waynesburg woman in thefts
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WAYNESBURG – A Waynesburg woman has been charged with the alleged misappropriation of $65,718.60 from her former employer, Hydraulic Solutions & Machine Fabrication, Inc., of 500 Jefferson Road, Waynesburg, from September 2006 to December 2012.
Melinda Charlene Reedy, 52, of 490 N. Richhill St., is charged with forgery, theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, unlawful use of a computer and other computer crimes and computer trespass.
According to the criminal complaint, Reedy acquired the funds while working as an office manager for the company. Her job entailed paying invoices, remitting trust fund taxes, posting customer receipts, processing payroll, reconciling bank accounts and posting transactions to the QuickBooks accounting software.
On June 18, Eugene Shellott, president of the company, told state police a forensic audit of his business by Pier Solutions, LLC, of North Versailles, confirmed a suspicion that Reedy was stealing money from the company. Shellott had the audit completed at the behest of state police in December 2012 when he became aware of a problem involving the IRS. At that time, Shellott received notice that payroll trust fund taxes had not been paid. He said Reedy told him there wasn’t enough money in the business account to pay them. In the same time period, Shellott saw a payment made to Verizon Wireless for an account that did not belong to him or Hydraulic Solutions.
The audit showed the following personal transactions allegedly made by Reedy: A payment of $6,096.86 to a Bank of America Home Loan account, $17,604.27 to J.P. Morgan Chase Credit Card, and $29,284.11 to Capitol One Credit Card. It also revealed a $1,091.60 unauthorized payroll increase, $1,105.62 in unauthorized and excessive vacation, $278.98 in health plan benefits she did not pay for, and $8,620.41 in unauthorized personal loans/advances from Hydraulic Solutions.
A preliminary hearing in the matter is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Dec. 19 before Greene County Magisterial District Judge Glenn Bates.