Dec 3, 2014 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – A Waynesburg woman who stole more than $65,000 from her former employer pleaded guilty and was sentenced Monday by Greene County Judge Farley Toothman to 6 to 12 months of house arrest followed by 13 years of probation.

Melinda Charlene Reedy, 53, of 490 N. Richhill St., was charged in December 2013 with misappropriating $65,718.60 from Hydraulic Solutions & Machine Fabrication Inc. of Waynesburg, where she was employed from September 2006 to December 2012.

Reedy pleaded guilty Monday to charges of theft by deception and unlawful use of a computer. Under an agreement with the state attorney general’s office, which prosecuted the case, charges of theft by unlawful taking, forgery and computer trespass were withdrawn.

According to online court records, Reedy was sentenced on the theft charge to 179 to 364 days of house arrest, which will be followed by six years of probation. Her confinement will be monitored by a GPS bracelet. She also was deemed eligible for work release.

On the charge of unlawful use of a computer, Reedy was sentenced to a consecutive seven years of probation. Reedy also was ordered to pay $80,000 in restitution and $9,083.50 in costs and fees.

According to the criminal complaint, Reedy stole the money while working as the company’s office manager. Her job entailed paying invoices, remitting payroll trust fund taxes, posting customer receipts, processing payroll, reconciling bank accounts and posting transactions to the accounting software.

Company President Eugene Shelott told state police he became aware of a problem in December 2012 after receiving notice from the Internal Revenue Service that payroll trust fund taxes had not been paid.

He said he questioned Reedy about it, and Reedy told him there wasn’t enough money in the business account to pay the taxes. At about the same time, he said, he also noticed a payment made to Verizon Wireless for an account that did not belong to him or Hydraulic Solutions.

Shellott had a forensic audit completed at the request of state police.

The audit revealed Reedy used Hydraulic Solutions funds to make $6,096.86 in payments to a Bank of America home loan account; $17,604.27 in payments to her J.P. Morgan Chase credit card account; $29,284.11 in payments to her Capitol One credit card account; and $1,636.75 in payments to her Verizon Wireless account.

The audit also showed Reedy received $1,091.60 in unauthorized compensation by altering payroll, $1,105.62 by taking unauthorized and excessive vacation, $278.98 in health plan benefits to which she was not entitled, and $8,620.41 in unauthorized personal loans/advances from Hydraulic Solutions.