Sandra Dean Kelley

A 62-year-old Backus woman has been convicted of Theft-Diverting Corporate Property after admitting to stealing over $100,000 from her former employer. Sandra Jean Kelley has been sentenced to 60 days in jail as well as five years supervised probation. She also must complete a gambling assessment and follow the recommendation of that assessment.

According to the criminal complaint filed against Kelley, on June 26, 2020, a Cass County sheriff investigator spoke with the CEO of Pine River Dental Arts where Kelley was employed as the office manager. The CEO reported that she had discovered discrepancies that led her to believe that Kelley mishandled company funds. Kelley was the only employee who oversaw office financial duties, including payroll and accounts receivable.

The investigator spoke with Kelley who provided a statement admitting she stole from her former employer and that it has been going on since 2013. Reportedly she did this to support her gambling and shopping. Kelley stated that she paid her personal credit card using company funds. The CEO also alleged that Kelley took extra hours through payroll, and took cash from the company account for personal use.

This was discovered after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown when the CEO began to examine the business’ records and discovered that between October 9, 2017, and March 31, 2020, Kelley used the corporate checking account to pay $84,633.08 off her personal credit card.

According to the complaint, the CEO also discovered that Kelley paid for her personal cell phone bill with a corporate credit card in the amount of $852.24. The CEO reviewed the payroll records and discovered that between September 24, 2015, and March 9, 2020, Kelley had overpaid herself $44,587.65. The CEO also reported that records revealed that between September 24, 2015, and March 31, 2020, Kelley took over $80,878.16 in cash.

Kelley’s daughter-in-law also worked for the business from 2013 through 2019 as a patient coordinator. The CEO reported that records revealed Kelley overpaid her daughter-in-law $27,908.91 between September 24, 2015, and September 5, 2019. The daughter-in-law reported to the investigation that she had no idea anything was wrong with her paychecks.

By — Betsy Melin