Sisters bookkeeper gets four years for embezzlement

A 62-year-old Sisters bookkeeper who admitted embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from her employer over several years was told she might only have to serve two years in prison – not four – if she could raise $200,000 in restitution to repay her victims.

But Cheryl Ann Waldron has been unable to do so since her mid-August guilty plea to four of the charges: two counts of aggravated ID theft, one count of first-degree forgery and one count of first-degree aggravated theft.

And so Deschutes County Circuit Judge Beth Bagley on Thursday sentenced her to the prosecutions’ recommendation of four years in prison.

Deputy District Attorney Dan Reesor said Waldron had tried to meet the restitution by signing over property her husband owned.

“However, it had so many liens on it, according to the title report, the value was only around $105,000,” he said.

The judge also went along with the state’s request and ordered the property deed turned over to the victimized business, along with restitution of $258,000. Waldron also faces three years of post-prison supervision after her release, Reesor said.

“Embezzlement at its core is theft, so in this regard it’s like shoplifting,” District Attorney John Hummel said in a statement Friday. “But embezzlement has the added component of a violation of a trusted relationship, often between employer and employee, which makes it a particularly insidious crime. Your district attorney will continue to aggressively prosecute fraud and embezzlement casesm in order to make victims whole and deter would-be crooks.”

Waldron acknowledged in her plea agreement petition that the four charges alone could have brought up to 35 years in prison and an $875,000 fine.

The sentencing had been delayed a week due to a problem last week with the court’s computer system.