As Cheryl Crabtree waited to be sentenced Tuesday, she told the packed courtroom she has no idea why she began to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Tucson company dedicated to helping the disabled.
Eventually, though, stealing from Dorothy Kret and Associates, also known as DKA, became addictive, and her world began to revolve around money, pride and power, Crabtree said.
Crabtree, 62, said she hoped, with time, she would be forgiven, prompting snorts of disbelief.
After she was done, Pima County Superior Court Judge Hector Campoy sentenced Crabtree to the maximum he could under the terms of her plea agreement — 10 years in prison.
According to court documents, Kret hired Crabtree in 1991 as a bookkeeper in Phoenix. Over the years, Crabtree worked herself up to DKA's chief financial officer.
People are also reading…
DKA provides job skills training to people with developmental, emotional and physical disabilities. It also provides assistance to the homeless.
In November 2005, Kret got a call from American Express saying the company credit card had not been paid for three months. Kret later found Crabtree applied for the credit card without permission and ran up a balance of $27,000.
Kret fired Crabtree after realizing Crabtree purchased an entertainment center for $4,700.
In January 2006, Kret learned Crabtree had stopped paying the federal government quarterly taxes in 2001 and the company owed $890,000 in back taxes, court documents show.
Kret went to the authorities and investigators discovered that between January 2001 and December 2005, Crabtree cashed company checks worth $127,150 and used business credit cards to buy more than $63,000 of items.
In addition, Crabtree wrote company checks to her dead husband for more than $7,000, court documents stated.
Assistant Attorney General John Evans and Kret told Campoy on Tuesday that although they were able to prove Crabtree stole more than $1 million, the actual amount is probably quite higher.
The government simply doesn't have the resources to investigate further, Evans said.
Kret told Campoy that Crabtree became an invaluable trusted friend and business associate shortly after she was hired. She has since learned that Crabtree once spent time in prison for theft and forgery and has used four Social Security numbers and 11 aliases.
Kret said she has also learned that Crabtree:
● Gave employees cash advances, then pocketed the money when they paid it back.
● Claimed employees' checks were stolen so she could write a second check to herself.
● Invented employees and then wrote checks to herself.
● Spent $180,000 of company money remodeling her home the same year she filed for bankruptcy.
Because of Crabtree's bogus bookkeeping methods, numerous disabled employees were overpaid by the federal government and now owe the government thousands of dollars, Kret said. One employee lost her home because she must repay the government $30,000.
Several accountants have urged Kret to file for bankruptcy because she owes so much in back taxes, Kret said.
Rather than do that, Kret said, she and her husband have taken out a second mortgage on their home and two office buildings. If they were to walk away from their debts and their clients, they would be no better than Crabtree, Kret said.
Campoy told Kret and her husband he wished he could make them financially whole again, but instead could only offer them his thanks and gratitude.
In addition to the 10-year prison sentence, Campoy ordered Crabtree to pay $534,000 in restitution. Evans said the state has already seized Crabtree's home and intends to auction off her belongings.
Kret has also filed a civil lawsuit against Crabtree.
