June 15, 2009
Dufur woman sentenced in embezzling case
By Raelynn Ricarte
The Hood River News
Attorneys from the Hood River law firm of Wyers Haskell Davies requested jail time for last Thursday for an employee who had embezzled more than $109,000.
Judge Paul Crowley granted that request and ordered Rebecca Keys, 39, of Dufur, to spend 60 days behind bars. She was also directed to repay the money stolen during an 18-month period prior to her January arrest.
Crowley ruled that Keys obtain mental health counseling, perform 120 hours of community service, account to her probation officer for all discretionary purchases over $25 and keep a record of all monies received and spent.
Her probation period for a criminal conviction extends five years, the maximum time allowed by law. But the civil restitution judgment leveled by Crowley against Keys is valid for 20 years.
“There’s some unfortunate irony in the fact that people like you who steal from an employer have trouble paying the money back because you are unemployable,” said Crowley.
He told Keys that she owed an amount similar to the debt that a college student incurred for an education or a homeowner for a mortgage.
“It’s going to be difficult but it’s not inconceivable that you could pay this back,” said Crowley. “In terms of your self-esteem, you’ve got to pay this back.
Keys served as both receptionist and legal secretary at the law office, where she was employed for eight years. She pleaded guilty April 20 to aggravated theft, a Class B felony, and June 11 was her sentencing hearing.
According to court reports, Keys was arrested again in April for shoplifting $30 worth of cosmetics in Wasco County.
Hood River County District Attorney John Sewell asked Crowley to factor the continuation of her criminal behavior into his ruling.
The judge said Keys had avoided a one- or two-year prison sentence by having her attorney, Brian Starns, negotiate a plea deal with Sewell. Under that agreement, the district attorney deferred sentencing to Crowley instead of consenting to any limitation of the defendant’s jail time.
“In 29 years as a prosecutor, I’ve handled other embezzlement cases, but I’ve never encountered one of this magnitude,” Sewell told Crowley.
Keys did not look at her former bosses and co-workers as she entered the courtroom. She took a seat at the defendant’s table and did not turn around when victim impact statements were directed to Crowley from the public gallery behind her. She began to cry while listening to testimony expressing anger about her betrayal.
“During the eight years she worked for us, we treated her like family,” said Teunis Wyers, senior partner at the firm.
“At staff meetings that occurred every two weeks, Mrs. Keys sat there and heard how we were hurting financially — and all the time, she was stealing us blind.
He told Crowley that, in addition to the evidence proving that Keys had stolen $109,000 of charges and checks, another $5,700 had been taken in cash.
“She showed up in court [at the April plea hearing] wearing designer clothing that we paid for,” said attorney Lesley Apple-Haskell, also a partner in the firm.
“Not only did the dishonesty hit us hard — we believed in her — but she was very calculated in continuing to take money from us.”
Starns asked that Keys be allowed to continue counseling instead of being incarcerated. He said she needed professional help to overcome a compulsive shopping disorder.
He said Heys had been evaluated by a Portland mental health expert who termed her excessive shopping as a “comfort” behavior. He said his client has unresolved issues relating to a dysfunctional childhood an also has major medical problems to cope with.
“She has never, during the course of my representation, attempted to get away from these charges, a partner in the Hood River law firm of Morris, Olson, Smith and Starns.
He said Keys had been seeking as job so that she could begin repaying the debt owed to her former employers. However, he said no one would hire her after learning about the criminal case.
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