A woman who worked her way through the ranks to a job handling billing for an Adams County truck-sales company has been charged with stealing more than $838,000 from her employer.
Rebecca Clark, 47, who worked in accounts receivable at Transwest Trucks in Adams County, allegedly stole $838,427 between November 2001 and February 2007, according to the Adams County Sheriff’s Department.
Clark, who has resigned, began working as a cashier for the company 17 years ago and worked her way up, said Mark Stenseth, Transwest’s chief financial officer.
She could not be reached for comment.
“This is one of those textbook cases where you had a trusted employee who had access that allowed her to get away with this for a period of time,” Stenseth said. “She was damned clever at hiding it. She moved things around from account to account and kept it in small packets that kept it below the radar until it grew to a size she was no longer able to hide.”
The theft was discovered after a routine audit that began in February, Stenseth said.
One Friday during the audit, Clark asked her supervisor if she could wait until the following Monday to provide auditors with materials they were requesting. She then returned to her job in Commerce City over the weekend and made bookkeeping entries and shredded some documents, Stenseth said.
That Monday, she resigned, and the company hired a forensic auditor before reporting the alleged theft to Adams County authorities.
“Our main interest was in building a civil case to recover some of our losses,” Stenseth said.
The company has been able to recover jet skis, jewelry, a boat and other assets from Clark so far, Stenseth said.
Clark was booked into the Adams County Jail on Friday, where she posted $10,000 bond and was released.
Beginning in April and over a period of five months, Adams County investigators obtained bank records and conducted interviews and a forensic audit.
Clark has been charged with 11 Class 3 felonies, each carrying a sentence of between four and 12 years.
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
