Bend co. bookkeeper accused of embezzling nearly $1 million

A comptroller and bookkeeper for a Bend energy-instrument business has been arrested on 32 felony counts, accused of embezzling nearly $1 million over the past four years, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel announced Tuesday.

Sherrie Lynn Burge, 48, was arrested Monday by Bend police on a warrant after being indicted Friday on the 32 charges, including nine counts each of first-degree aggravated theft, aggravated identity theft and first-degree forgery, along with four counts of fraudulent use of credit cards and one count of money laundering.

Burge was being held at the county jail on $375,000 bail, pending her arraignment Tuesday afternoon, jail records show.

Burge had worked for DENT Instruments as a comptroller and office bookkeeper since 2012, Hummel said. He noted the firm has been a developer and manufacturer of power and energy instruments in Bend for more than 25 years.

It’s the second such major bookkeeper embezzlement case in the county this year, and third in just over a year.

Last week, Cheryl Ann Waldron, 62, a Sisters construction company bookkeeper and office manager, admitted in court embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from her employer over the past several years.

Under a plea agreement, she is due in court for sentencing Aug. 31 and faces two or four years in prison, depending on whether she can come up with $200,000 in restitution for her victims by that time.

Just over a year ago, Bend construction company office manager William Walton III and his wife, Juli Ann Walton, were indicted on 48 felony counts, accusing them of stealing more than $700,000 from Jack Robinson & Sons and its subsidiary, 4-R Equipment LLC over four years.

William Walton’s trial is scheduled for Sept. 13, online records show. The indictment of his wife was dismissed last year, at the prosecution’s request.