Former bookkeeper convicted of stealing more than $100,000 from Fox Cities Title Company in Appleton
APPLETON – A former employee of an Appleton real estate and insurance business was convicted Monday of theft of over $100,000 from the company.
Stacey Gersmehl, 51, pleaded no contest Monday in Outagamie County Circuit Court to the charge, a Class F felony. She faces a maximum of 12 years and six months in prison.
According to the criminal complaint:
In April 2022, an owner of Fox Cities Title Company, 1033 W. College Ave., told police Gersmehl, who was the company's bookkeeper, had paid herself $500 extra for the last six pay periods, for a total of $3,000.
That person, who was one of four people who owned the company, said Gersmehl admitted to the thefts. The owners fired Gersmehl, but made an agreement that if she would pay back the money in monthly installments, the company would not pursue criminal charges.
While reviewing finances, company owners learned Gersmehl had been stealing significantly more money, since at least 2019. The owner told police Gersmehl was transferring portions of funds incoming to Fox Cities Title Company to a bank account she was using for personal funds.
Gersmehl would write on company ledgers that she was depositing all funds into the company's operating account at Nicolet National Bank, but would actually deposit some in an account at Associated Bank. Fox Cities Title Company's accountant would only review the ledger, and did not have access to the bank accounts.
The owner said based on the cashed checks between September 2019 and December 2021, Gersmehl had stolen around $110,000.
When an investigator subpoenaed bank records for the entire duration of the Associated Bank account's operation, from August 2012 to December 2021, he determined a total of $334,684.29 was deposited into the bank account from Fox Cities Title Company.
The Fox Cities Title Company office manager told the investigator this "may have been a mixture of legitimate business activities and fraudulent activities," because the company had moved between using different banks.
The fraudulent activites, however, included any ATM withrawals and purchases at grocery stores, the office manager said.
In July 2022, Gersmehl told investigators there had been an "under the table agreement" that she could deposit $2,000 per month into the Associated Bank account. However, the monthly average was "significantly higher" than that, and the owner Gersmehl claimed she made the agreement with denied it.
Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.
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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Former bookkeeper convicted of stealing over $100K from Appleton firm
