14:10 pm Woman accused of half-million dollar embezzlement in PA
A Carter County woman has been accused by Pennsylvania law enforcement officers of embezzling nearly a half million dollars from a snow removal company.
Lisa Roche
On Wednesday, Deputy Billy Harrell and Lt. L.C. Tester of the Carter County Sheriff’s Department responded to 214 Rockhouse Road, Lot 13, in reference to a felony warrant service from the Lower Southampton Township Police Department in Pennsylvania. Harrell said the officers located Lisa Roche, 52, and took her into custody. She was arrested without incident and taken to the Carter County Jail.
Chief Deputy Ron Street said Thursday that Roche is currently incarcerated on a fugitive from justice warrant. She will remain incarcerated without bond until an appearance in Carter County General Sessions Court for an extradition hearing.
Lower Southampton Detective Eric Landamia said in an arrest warrant that on Nov. 26, 2010, Officer Jeffrey Wilson responded to About Time Snow for the report of theft by a former employee. About Time Snow, a company which conducts snow removal, is located in Feasterville, Penn., just outside of Philadelphia.
The company’s owner, Stephen Summer, reported that Lisa Roche worked at the business from Jan. 2, 2007 to March 5, 2010, when her position was terminated. Roche held a position similar to an office manager, Landamia wrote, holding responsibility for most accounting functions as well as human resources and payroll entry. Her responsibilities included, but were not limited to, making bank deposits, paying bills, writing checks, paying online credit cards and performing bank reconciliations.
The detective said that following Roche’s termination and the hiring of a replacement, the replacement found transactions that cleared the company’s financial institutions that were absent from accounting records. An audit of all financial transactions conducted during Roche’s employment was then completed. As a result of the audit, Landamia said four checking accounts were found to have been exploited.
The warrant state that Roche “used checks belonging to her employer to pay personal bills, including credit cards and utilities, altering ledgers and checks to reflect otherwise.” The warrant said Roche did not have permission to use her employer’s checks for her own personal use.
“She is accused of taking in excess of $450,000,” Landamia said this morning.
As a result of the investigation, Landamia has filed several charges against Roche. She is charged with knowledge that property is proceeds of illegal act, theft by unlawful taking of property, theft by false impression, access device used to obtain property and receiving stolen property.
Landamia filed charges on Jan. 31. “We had heard from the victim that she had relocated to that state (Tennessee),” the detective said.
After learning of Roche’s whereabouts, Tennessee law enforcement agencies were notified regarding the warrant.
“The investigation is still ongoing into a possible accomplice, so unfortunately, at this time I cannot provide much more detail except for what was in the affidavit of probable cause,” Landamia said.
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