FAYETTEVILLE — A woman from the Kingston community faces a 15-year prison sentence after admittingthat she embezzled close to $200,000 from an insurance agency where she worked.
Heather Patton, 38, pleaded guilty Tuesday to theft of property. She wassentenced by Washington County Circuit Judge William Storey to 20 years - 15 years in the Department of Correction and five years suspended. She was also ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution.
She was accused in an arrest warrant dated May 7 of embezzling more than $195,000 between Jan. 1, 2002, and Aug. 29, 2006, from Advantage One Insurance in Fayetteville, where she worked as a bookkeeper. She was accused of padding her paychecks and using company fundsto pay her personal creditors.
Prosecutors agreed as part of the negotiated plea agreement not to pursue charges of forgery and to require restitutionof $100,000.
Patton's plea on Tuesday added five more years to the prison sentence from Benton County she's currently serving on related charges.
She pleaded guilty on Jan. 14 on fraud and theft of property in Benton County and was sentenced to 20 years - 10 in prison and 10 suspended. She was ordered to pay restitution of $17,289 in that case.
She was accused in Benton County of stealing from her same employer when the office she worked in was located in Benton County.
Her Washington County sentence runs concurrently with the Benton County sentence.
News, Pages 5 on 09/30/2009