The article below fails to reveal the purpose for which the embezzled funds were spent, yet this bears watching and should heighten alarm with the Massachusetts support for Predatory Gambling.
Former Patriot Ledger office manager charged with embezzling $280K
QUINCY —
A default warrant has been issued for a former Patriot Ledger office manager charged with embezzling more than a quarter-million dollars from the newspaper’s parent company.
Karen A. Sullivan, 53, of Liberty Street in Braintree, is charged with larceny and embezzlement in a scheme police say occurred between her 2006 hiring and her termination in March.
Police charge that Sullivan habitually took cash and checks from deposit bags that belonged to GateHouse Media, deposited them into her personal account, and manipulated records to cover her theft, according to a report filed in court.
Sullivan was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Quincy District Court, but failed to appear. A default warrant for her arrest was issued at the close of business Wednesday.
She remained in default as of the closing of court Thursday, said David Traub, spokesman for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Police began investigating Sullivan in March after an employee at GateHouse Media, The Patriot Ledger’s parent company, reported finding a bank deposit bag that had been tampered with, according to the police report.
Sean Burke, president and group publisher at GateHouse Media New England, said the company is not able to comment on the matter.
Reached on her cellphone Thursday afternoon, Sullivan said she had no knowledge of a court summons or what charges she faces.
She deferred questions to her attorney, Daniel O’Malley, who did not return requests for comment Thursday.
Sullivan managed GateHouse Media’s circulation business office on Crown Colony Drive in Quincy, which collects sale proceeds from the company’s six daily and approximately 100 weekly newspapers.
According to the police report, Sullivan’s job responsibilities included accepting checks and cash and depositing them into GateHouse Media’s account at Bank of America.
After the tampered deposit bag was reported, executives looked back and noted a steady increase in funds Sullivan marked “in transit,” meaning they had yet to be cleared by the bank, according to the police report. The report says the amount of in-transit funds was $28,000 when Sullivan was hired and grew each month, reaching $273,485 in February.
A detailed internal accounting found a $279,364 deficit in GateHouse’s bank account, according to the report, which also says Sullivan appeared to write personal checks to the account in an attempt to mask her alleged theft.
Police obtained a search warrant for Sullivan’s bank accounts. During the period of her employment, police found deposits consistent with her salary in her savings account, about $50,000 annually.
During the same time period, the records show she also deposited a total of $1.19 million into her checking account.
According to the police report, the investigation into Sullivan began when an employee found and reported a torn-open cash deposit bag in Sullivan’s trash can. The bag, the report says, should not have been opened.
GateHouse executives confronted Sullivan with their findings March 15. According to the police report, she responded that she did not know where the money was, but told them “it was gone.”
Sullivan was immediately suspended, and terminated a week later.
Read more: Former Patriot Ledger office manager charged with embezzling $280K - Quincy, MA - The Patriot Ledger http://www.patriotledger.com/news/x863238794/Former-Patriot-Ledger-office-manager-charged-with-embezzling-280K#ixzz2Usy5pYWa
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