Fort Smith woman charged with stealing from employer

VAN BUREN — A Fort Smith woman has been charged in Crawford County Circuit Court with stealing more than $240,000 from her employer, Loislaw, over a five-year period.

Public defender Ryan Norris entered an innocent plea to a felony theft by deception charge and waived arraignment Tuesday for Tonda Lynn Shaw, 43. She was freed from Crawford County jail June 20 after posting $100,000 bond, according to jail records.

According to the prosecutor’s file on the case, Shaw is accused of submitting fake invoices to Loislaw, a legal research database firm, from a company with which Loislaw had once done business. The invoices directed Loislaw to make the payments to a post office box in Fort Smith controlled by Shaw. She then deposited the checks into her bank account.

According to the prosecutor’s file, Shaw received 94 payments from Loislaw between Oct. 25, 2006, and Aug. 24, 2011, totaling $241,514.64.

Prosecuting Attorney Marc McCune said initially the payments were for a few hundred dollars to more than $1,000. Company officials became suspicious when they began receiving invoices for several thousand dollars.

Finally, Loislaw officials contacted the other company, which said it had not done business with Loislaw since 2006.

Shaw also was charged as a habitual criminal for convictions of theft by deception in Crawford County in 1992 and theft in Sebastian County in 2007, according to the prosecutor’s file.