(Stillwater, Okla.) – A former office manager of High Country Utilities Inc. (HCU) has been given a 10-year prison term followed by 27 years of probation for embezzling $1.3 million during a nearly 10-year period from the company located south of Perkins.
Kimberly Kay Turnham, 52, of Perkins, who wore a sweatshirt and jeans in court, pleaded guilty last week to five counts of embezzlement and one count of second-degree forgery, for which she was ordered to pay $1.3 million in restitution to the victims, as a condition of probation.
When District Judge Phillip Corley asked the defendant in court, “How is it you embezzled $1.3 million,” Turnham appeared to say, “I was taking care of my family.”
The Payne County judge, who approved the defendant’s plea bargain with the prosecution, ordered that on her release from prison, Turnham pay $100 per month in restitution for the first six months, after which she must return to court regarding her payments.
Turnham appeared detached in court. When the judge asked her what she had done, Turnham replied, “I embezzled from my employer and friend.”
Prosecutor Jeremiah Gregory advised the judge, “The Payne County Sheriff’s Office is here to take her to jail.”
Sheriff’s Investigator Rockford Brown, who escorted Turnham to jail, said in an interview, “I’m pleased with the justice that is being handed out for the victims of this crime.”
In addition to taking money from the company’s owners, “She stole from all the other hard-working employees. They would have had bigger paychecks every year. They gave bonuses every year depending on how much they made.
“She stole from the owners, but also these hard-working guys who were on the road. The majority of the jobs were out of town,” the investigator explained.
According to the investigator’s report, on Feb. 27, 2018, he met with Dave and Shari Lloyd, the owners of HCU where Turnham was employed from Aug. 30, 2001, until her termination on Dec. 11, 2017, on accusations of embezzlement.
“The Lloyd have gathered more information from their Bank of America (BOA) account, specifically in regards to electronic fund transfers (EFT), aka wire transfers, aka online payments that were made by Kim Turnham from the HCU BOA account,” the investigator wrote in his report.
“These wire transfers and online payments were previously undiscovered; this was due to the fact that the accountant did not initially have access to all records from the HCU BOA account, specifically those detailing the EFTs.
“The Lloyds provided records from the BOA account that now go back to Jan. 1, 2008. Multiple online payments were discovered to Capital One credit card accounts that had not yet been discovered. A search warrant was issued on Feb. 5, 2018, for Capital One credit cards.
“It was confirmed through this search warrant that there were EFTs made to these Capital One account numbers from the HCU Bank of America account…the initial forensic accounting only went back to 2011 whereas the second went back to 2008. BOA was unable to generate records further back than 2008.”
In his report, the sheriff’s investigator wrote, “Turnham embezzled from HCU in the following ways: 1) Unauthorized online payments from HCU to credit card accounts belonging to Turnham or close relatives. 2) Direct wire transfers from HCU bank accounts to Turnham’s private bank account and to accounts that were directly for her benefit. 3) Unauthorized payments to vendors from HCU’s BOA checking account. 4) Unauthorized additional payments to herself from HCU’s BOA checking account. 5) Unauthorized use of company credit card.”
Among the purchases Turnham made on the HCU company credit card was $4,174.85 on Feb. 13, 2017, for Lady Gaga tickets, the investigator’s affidavit said.
“Turnham attempted to conceal several of the checks she wrote by altering who the payee was in HCU’s Peachtree accounting software. Turnham would write a check to herself from the HCU BOA account; she would then recode the check as if it were paid to a vendor.
“By doing this Turnham grossly inflated job costs. One example of Turnham’s concealment methods is check #28121 written on March 7, 2011, to Turnham for $570.92; she then coded the same check number as paid to Airgas Mid South Inc.” the affidavit said.
The embezzlement by Turnham is believed to be the largest case of its type ever filed in Payne County District Court.
***
