The former business director of Boulder’s Shining Mountain Waldorf School accused of embezzling almost $80,000 — including $30,000 she claimed was reimbursement for expenses related to the 2013 flood — from the school was convicted on two counts of forgery Monday.
Laurie Beth Ireland-Ashley, 55, was arrested in November on suspicion of theft between $20,000 and $100,000, forgery and insurance fraud. An internal audit of the school’s finances by a forensic accounting firm found that Ireland-Ashley had received $79,793.20 in “suspicious” payments, including a check for $30,342.12 that was “especially questionable,” according to the arrest affidavit.
Employees of the school told investigators that Ireland-Ashley claimed the $30,000 check — issued on Dec. 19, 2014 — was to reimburse her for repair expenses related to the September 2013 floods. But when shown two invoices for flood work, the company that did the flood repairs, ServPro, said the invoice provided by Ireland-Ashley was not theirs and appeared to be forged.
After deliberating for two days, the jury came back Monday with a conviction of two counts of forgery — Class 5 felonies. The forgery convictions each carry a potential prison sentence of one to three years, according to Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett.
The jury was hung, however, on one count of theft and one count of insurance fraud, according to the Boulder District Attorney’s Office.
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