Theft amazes me!

Sometimes even I am astonished by the level of fraud some people aspire towards. $400K stolen from public funds! How much of this graft goes on that is never found out and remains unaccounted for? The total would no doubt be shocking. How many family fortunes were started by a distant relation pulling this type of theft and getting away with it? "Aye, we remember fondly aged Horace Greabner, your distant cousin may he rest in peace, his embezzlement from the railroad in 1885 enabled your great, great....." you get the picture.

September 27, 2005
Lansing State Journal

By Kelly Hassett
Lansing State Journal

A Lansing woman embezzled more than $400,000 from a state office that helps ready troops for deployment so she could buy bowling and exercise equipment, police and state officials said Monday. Sandra Wentworth, 47, is due back in court next week on charges she abused her position as a Department of Military and Veterans Affairs purchasing manager to buy equipment for her family-owned bowling alley, a plasma television, furniture and other items with a department credit card, Maj. Dawn Dancer said.

The 18-year department veteran resigned last year, two days after an internal investigation revealed the discrepancies and she was suspended, Dancer said. "She was a trusted and well-liked employee," Dancer said of Wentworth, whose duties included buying equipment or providing shelter for National Guard troops on state missions. "When this was discovered, her co-workers were shocked and truly devastated."

Wentworth, along with her husband, Wayne Wentworth, 56, and son Eric Krauss, 24, was charged Friday with three counts of tax fraud and filing false returns, said state Attorney General spokeswoman Allison Pierce. Embezzlement is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Wentworth was released after paying 10 percent of a $20,000 bond, and her husband and son were released on personal recognizance bonds.

A woman who answered the door of the family's Lansing home Monday said none of them were home and declined comment. Sandra Wentworth's attorney did not return a phone call Monday. Lansing attorney Vincent Green is representing Krauss. "I really do believe this young man is not guilty of the charges," he said, adding that he felt the charges were a way for authorities to get to Wentworth.

State police investigated after military officials thought some of Wentworth's purchases were suspicious. "One of the larger expenses was over $100,000 in bowling equipment and supplies for the bowling alley they own in Fowler," state police spokeswoman Shanon Akans said. All three are scheduled for preliminary hearings - at which a judge determines if there's enough evidence for trial - on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7.

Dancer said the department was not insured for losses such as this and is not sure how or if it will recoup the money. But her office has worked in the past year to tighten its bookkeeping procedures, and Dancer has seen an increase in requests for internal audits in other departments - simply as a precaution.

"Part of the reason this happened is that we weren't following our own internal practices," she said. "Some of that comes from doing more with less. But she was a trusted and valued employee."

Contact Kelly Hassett at 267-1301 or khassett@lsj.com.