When Amanda
Luther was terminated as a Cody business manager in early 2015, her
employers thought they had a couple different reasons for parting ways;
among other things, they felt Luther was doing a poor job with sloppy
bookkeeping and finances were tight.
However, the owners of Juniper:
Bar+Market+Bistro would soon learn the problems were directly related:
Luther had covertly embezzled around $20,000 from the establishment over
the prior two years.
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| Amanda Luther |
On Monday, the 28-year-old reported to
the Park County Detention Center to finish serving a 30-day jail
sentence. Luther will also spend the next three years on supervised
probation as part of a unique plea agreement that spanned both District
and Circuit Courts.
She pleaded guilty to both felony (more
than $1,000) and misdemeanor ($1,000 or less) counts of theft, though
under a deferred prosecution agreement, she’ll avoid a felony conviction
as long as she successfully completes the probation.
District Court Judge Steven Cranfill said
he was largely accepting the deferral because Juniper’s owners —
Michele and Ruffin Prevost — were in agreement. The judge noted he’s
sent people to prison for embezzling.
“I do take it very, very seriously, a
breach of that kind of trust,” Cranfill said in May. He told Luther a
felony conviction “is something that follows you for the rest of your
life and the opportunity to avoid it is significant, and I hope you
appreciate that.”
Luther, of Cody, said she was grateful
for the opportunity to be a productive member of the community and to
set things straight.
“I admit to the guilt in this matter and
obviously would like for the victims in this case to be able to move
along,” Luther said. She added that she wanted to show “that I am
obviously very sorry in this matter and it never should have happened.”
Luther was terminated from Juniper on Feb. 3, 2015, and received one month’s pay as severance, charging documents say.
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| Cody Police Detective Jason Stafford compiled this list of checks that were issued to Luther, but listed in QuickBooks as having been used for legitimate purchases for Juniper. Juniper's owner later found additional fraudulent transactions. |
A couple weeks later, however, an
accountant hired to reconcile Juniper’s bank statements found two
suspicious checks. Both had been entered into the accounting software as
payments to a beverage distributor, but the checks had actually been
made out and paid to Luther, said a charging affidavit written by Cody
Police Detective Jason Stafford.
The Prevosts ended up discovering dozens
of fraudulent transactions between late December 2013 and mid-January
2015. That included a couple instances where Luther had duplicated her
payroll check (to pay herself twice) and others where she made it appear
as though checks were going toward utility bills, taxes, supplies and
even the Park County Animal Shelter, Stafford wrote. In actuality, the detective found
Luther was depositing the checks into her bank account or cashing them.
“She covered her tracks in hiding what she stole from us,” Ruffin Prevost said.
The Prevosts initially believed around
$17,851.88 had been stolen, but discovered a couple thousand dollars
more after the case was filed. For example, they learned Luther had
forgiven her personal $437.25 bar tab — which made the basis for a
separate misdemeanor theft charge in Circuit Court.
Luther was charged and arrested in March 2015. She served four days in jail before posting bond.
Negotiations between Park County
Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Skoric and Luther’s defense attorney — Nick
Beduhn of Cody — culminated in a deal that was finalized last month.
It included Luther paying back $17,851.88
in May and agreeing to repay the more recently discovered $2,568.33 —
plus $435 in court fees — over the coming year.
The prosecution and defense had agreed to
let Luther serve her final 26 days of jail time in two separate stints,
to accommodate her current work schedule. However, at the second phase
of Luther’s sentencing, on June 15 in Circuit Court, Ruffin Prevost
asked Judge Bruce Waters to instead require Luther to serve all 26 days
at once.
“She lied to us for three years while she
was stealing from us and has done pretty much everything to minimize
the consequences of her actions from then until now,” Prevost told the
judge.
As an example, he took issue with the
fact that Luther asked for court permission to leave the country and
visit Europe after posting bond in the case. (The request was denied by
Judge Cranfill.)
Judge Waters sided with Prevost and declined to let Luther break up her jail time.
“The fact is, if somebody embezzled $20,000 from me, I wouldn’t be very happy about it,” Waters said.
Luther’s supervised probation requires that she obey the law and have no contact with the Prevosts, among other conditions.
~By CJ Baker
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