Embezzler hands over $300,000
Posted in HOA posts, Patricia Unger case, Forest View Acres Water District on June 23rd, 2006
Embezzler hands over $300,000
Patricia Unger is set to be sentenced Sept. 7.
By DENNIS HUSPENI THE GAZETTE
The woman who embezzled $300,000 from a north El Paso County water district will spend six months in jail and repaid district officials Thursday as part of a plea agreement.
Patricia Yvonne Unger, 56, pleaded guilty Thursday to felony theft in exchange for prosecutors dropping two other felony charges.
She admitted stealing checks from the Forest View Acres Water District, where she kept the books since 1994.
Unger said the thefts began in 1999 and continued until the end of 2004.
El Paso County sheriff’s investigators found at least 204 forged checks in her house.
“At the beginning, I always intended to pay them back,” Unger said. “I had no idea of the amount I took because I didn’t keep track. Towards the end, I knew it was greater than anything I could repay.”
The agreement, reached after mediation with a senior district judge, hangs an eight-year prison sentence over her head to ensure she completes the conditions of her six-year probation. Other conditions include: paying another $15,000 restitution at $250 a month, writing a letter of apology to the district and returning any district documents. She will be allowed to go to work from jail.
Unger gave district officials two certified checks Thursday totaling $300,000.
District officials agreed to drop the lawsuit against Unger in exchange for her plea and the restitution payment.
She told District Judge Edward Colt that she would write checks that were supposed to go to vendors to herself, deposit them in her account, then never pay the vendors.
Ratepayers in the district, which serves 280 homes in the Palmer Lake and Monument area, saw their water bills soar after the thefts were discovered.
“It’s the most we’ve ever paid for water in our entire lives,” said R. Gilbert Moore of Red Rock Ranch. “Now we have to figure out how to get out of debt.”
District officials estimate they lost more than $600,000 after factoring in lost interest, legal fees and audit fees.
“This brings closure but not celebration,” said Barbara Reed-Polatty, board president.
An independent management company now handles the district’s accounts.
The $300,000 restitution will help but doesn’t erase all the debt, Reed-Polatty said.
Deputy District Attorney Robyn Cafasso said a trial would have been lengthy and expensive.
The plea agreement offered a fair punishment for Unger and helped the water district recoup some of its losses, she said.
“I’m relieved it’s done,” Moore said.
Unger is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 7. She remains free on $50,000 bail.
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