A longtime bookkeeper for Pine Ridge Homes has been charged with six counts of theft by swindle after allegedly writing about $88,000 in unauthorized checks to herself.
Denise Rae Forconi, 63, of Esko appeared in Carlton County Court on
Tuesday after being apprehended by police the day before. Forconi was a
29-year employee of Pine Ridge Homes, where she held the position of head bookkeeper and was responsible for accounts payable and receivable, preparing checks for payment of accounts and payroll.
According to the criminal complaint:
ADVERTISEMENT
Following Forconi's retirement in April, her successor discovered accounting irregularities, which prompted an internal investigation into payment accounts. The investigation prompted Pine Ridge to contact an accounting firm to review its financial records.
The review allegedly uncovered information showing that Forconi regularly had drafted unauthorized checks in her name. She reportedly would bill one or more expenditure accounts for non-existent expenses and would then take the funds, draft an unauthorized check in her name and then cash or
deposit the check at local banks.
The complaint said Pine Ridge contacted Cloquet Police regarding the matter, and a police detective investigated the complaint by gathering the accounting and banking records from Pine Ridge as well as copies of unauthorized checks and bank records demonstrating when and how Forconi allegedly moved the unauthorized funds.
Results of the investigation showed that from July 1, 2010, to March 20, 2013 (the date of the final unauthorized check), Forconi reportedly drafted seven unauthorized checks to herself totaling more than $88,000.
Forconi was granted pretrial release at her hearing on Tuesday and was slated to return to court today with her attorney.
