An auditor for the county of Sullivan together with 2 other individuals has been accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a woman of the Colley Township. According to the Laporte state police, the thefts occurred when Alice H. Foster, the victim, was dependent on other people for her care. Debra A. Ryan, the auditor, is being charged with 128 counts of theft through unlawful disposition, 128 counts of forgery, 128 counts of scheming to commit forgery, 128 counts of accepting stolen property, 128 counts of planning to steal through deception, 128 counts of theft through failure to make a compulsory disposition of the money received and 128 counts of records tampering. This is according to the police
Ryan, who is 56 years old, acted as power of attorney for Foster from around June of 2007 up to 15th July of 2008 and it was during this time that she had the responsibility to manage the finances of Foster, according to the police. Foster told the police that the County auditor had abused the power of attorney at approximately 25th November 2007 through the changing of two life insurance covers for Foster in order to make herself the main beneficiary. According to the police, both policies are valued at a total of $100,000.The police said that the theft occurred in the period between April of 2004 and 15th January 2008.
The other two individuals who are charged alongside Ryan are: Elisha Kay Williams (33 years), who is the daughter-in-law to Ryan and Kim, Williams’ husband. The police said that before Ryan became power of attorney for Foster, it was Elisha Williams who was her power of attorney. It was when Foster realized that both Kim and Elisha Williams were making illegal charges to her accounts for their own benefits that he appointed Ryan to be her power of attorney. According to the police, this is the role that Ryan had requested from Foster.
The police have said that Elisha Williams confessed to them that she, Kim, together with/or Ryan made purchases that were not authorized and at certain times they paid part of their bills with money from the accounts of Foster. Foster told the police that Elisha and Kim bought at least one snowmobile and one four-wheeler with money from her accounts and the vehicles were eventually registered to Kim Williams and/or Elisha Williams without her approval or knowledge.
A forensic accountant hired by the police confirmed that around $49,297 was embezzled from the accounts of Foster between 10th of January 2006 and 14th of January 2008 through 97 transactions. The police have said that some of the transactions were made straightforwardly to accounts that belong to Kim Williams, Elisha Williams and/or Ryan.
Kim Williams is being charged with 106 forgery counts, 106 theft by unlawful disposition counts, 106 counts of scheming to commit forgery, 106 counts for accepting stolen property, 106 theft by deception counts, 106 counts for failing to make the required funds disposition and 106 counts for tampering with records. Kim Williams and Ryan are set to face their accusations on September 10th at a preliminary hearing.
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