Sisters bookkeeper jailed, accused of embezzling $430,000

A Sisters construction company’s bookkeeper and office manager has been arrested on 27 felony theft counts, accused of embezzling $430,000 from the company over the past several years, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said Tuesday.

Cheryl Ann Waldron, 62, was arrested Monday by sheriff’s deputies after being indicted by a grand jury on 27 felony counts of aggravated identity theft and first-degree charges of aggravated theft and forgery, Hummel said in a news release.

Waldron had been employed since 1999 as a bookkeeper and office manager with Sisters company Robinson and Owen Heavy Construction.

Robinson and Owen Heavy Construction has been contracting private and public works, projects as well as land development projects throughout Central Oregon for over 16 years, the DA noted.

According to Robinson and Owen Construction management, their total loss suffered from Ms. Waldron’s ongoing embezzlement of company funds was approximately $430,000, over the course of several years, Hummel said.

“We’ve had a recent rash of greed induced crime in Deschutes County,” Hummel stated. “People who think they are smarter than the IRS and law enforcement will lose in the end.”

Waldron made her initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon and is scheduled to return to court, possibly entering a plea, on March 30.