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Home Health & Hospice Week

Industry Note:

Bookkeeper Embezzled $171K From Hospice

Published on Fri Mar 30, 2012

Be sure you're monitoring your financial employees closely, or they may be taking money out of your pocket -- a lesson one hospice in Montana has learned the hard way. Former bookkeeper and office manager Sandra Lea Morrison has been convicted of em-bezzling more than $171,000 from Hospice of Mis-soula over four years, reports the Missoulian newspaper. Morrison transferred more than $127,000 from hospice bank accounts to her personal account, issued paychecks to herself totaling nearly $25,000 beyond her regular pay, reimbursed herself for about $15,500 in office supplies, and paid herself $3,440 for vacation time she hadn't earned. Morrison used the funds for her keno gambling habit, Morrison told the judge at a sentencing hearing. Insurance didn't cover the cost of Mor-rison's theft, hospice director Kit Jackson told the judge. Morrison was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with all but 2.5 years suspended. And she must repay the stolen [...]
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