Sisters bookkeeper pleads guilty in big embezzlement case

A Sisters construction company bookkeeper and office manager has pleaded guilty to embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from her employer over the past several years. Now, she faces two years in prison — or four — depending on whether she can pay the victims $200,000 restitution at her Aug. 31 sentencing.

Cheryl Ann Waldron, 62, was arrested in early March on 27 felony theft, ID theft and forgery counts, accused of siphoning $430,000 from Robinson and Owen Heavy Construction, where she’d worked since 1999.

Waldron pleaded guilty during Tuesday’s court appearance to four charges: two counts of aggravated identity theft and one each of aggravated theft and first-degree forgery. Under her plea deal, the rest would be dismissed.

In the petition she signed, Waldron acknowledged that those four charges alone could have brought a maximum punishment of 35 years in jail and an $875,000 fine.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 31 at 10 a.m. before Deschutes County Circuit Judge Michael Adler, online court records show.

“Our goal is to recover as much of the stolen money as possible to the victim, while still holding the defendant accountable for her criminal actions,” Deputy District Attorney Dan Reesor said Wednesday.

Waldron admitted to police and her employer that she embezzled funds, but did not admit to a certain amount, Reesor said. The victims’ records indicated $430,000 was stolen, and the prosecutor said they have subpoenaed bank records, copies of forged checks and her admissions to support that figure.

“She was in a trusted position with the company, and was able to carry out this embezzlement for several years,” Reesor said.

Reesor said Waldron had indicated during the separate, parallel civil court process that “there’s a piece of property she could sell or hand it over to the victims.” However, Reesor said, there are encumbrances on the property that might make it difficult to do so that quickly.

The plea petition states that if $200,000 in restitution is paid at the time of sentencing, “which may be satisfied with satisfaction of the promissory note deed to property agreed upon between the parties to the civil case, the state will recommend a total of 24 months” in prison, rather than 48 months.

If she is unable to make the full agreed-upon restitution at sentencing, she instead could be sentenced to four years in prison and have to make payments toward the amount owed, if the judge approves that arrangement.

“It’s a large incentive” to be able to avoid two more years of prison time, Reesor said, adding: “If we can get that money up front, it’s great for the victims.”

A call to Waldron’s Bend attorney, Leslie Nitcher, was not immediately returned.