CLEARFIELD – A Philipsburg woman accused of stealing more than $5,000 from the Morrisdale Moose Lodge pleaded guilty Tuesday during plea and sentencing court.
Jennie Lynn Lutz, 55, 206 N. Center St., Philipsburg, was charged with theft by unlawful taking in September after officials realized, Lutz, who was hired to pay the bills, had been writing out unauthorized checks to herself. She would then list the check number and amount in the register as being a payment on a bill, according to the criminal complaint.
President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman sentenced her to two years probation. As part of her plea agreement to receive a probation only sentence, she paid restitution of more than $6,300 in full prior to sentencing.
Ammerman commented that representatives of the Moose Lodge in Morrisdale were concerned with getting the money back and were not looking for her to serve any jail time. It was noted that they did, however, want her to have the theft charge on her record to alert any possible employers of her behavior.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the unapproved check writing began in April of 2013 and ended in January of 2014. Trustees discovered money was missing from their accounts and some bills had not been paid, leading to an investigation.
It was thought that Lutz was marking the ledger as if the bills had been paid, but was writing her own name on the checks or writing them out to cash.
The first questionable check from May of 2013 was made payable to Lutz and was for $500. The ledger showed the check with this number was made out for Moose International. The amount of $500 was listed correctly.
The investigation revealed there were 18 checks totaling more than $5,700 that were listed incorrectly. A closer inspection of the transactions with the bank confirmed Lutz as the person who cashed the checks.