Woman Pleads Guilty to Embezzling $83K From Local Business Owner

The former bookkeeper of an excavation company owned by a Merrimack resident will be sentenced at the end of the month after pleading guilty in a plea agreement to embezzling more than $83,000 from her former employer.

Renee Pelletier, who worked for Modern Excavation and Development pleaded guilty to the charges in exchange for a recommended sentence of eight years in prison, the minimum sentence she could have faced. The agreement was signed by John Kacavas, assistant U.S. Attorney.

Pelletier pleaded guilty to withdrawing money from her employer for her own personal gain and to pay her own debts, according to court documents.

The documents, from the New Hampshire's U.S. District Court in Concord lay out the charges she faced which included:

• Forging her employer Chris' endorsement on 161 checks totaling $32,504.04 that were drawn on the account, made payable to herself,
• forging Chris' endorsement on 53 checks totaling $10,344.66 that were
  drawn on the account, made payable to "Cash,"
• forging Chris' endorsement on 101 checks totaling $21,342.54 that were
  drawn on the account, made these checks payable to third parties to whom she owed money; and
• on 233 separate occasions used St. Mary's Bank's on-line banking system to cause St. Mary's Bank to use money in the account to make payments
  totaling $19,103.15 to third parties to whom Pelletier owed money.

Pelletier made these withdrawals and payments during the four years she worked for the company, from June 2008 to August 2011. She was in charge of maintaining and balancing the company's finances during her employment.

Pelletier's sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 28. Prosecutors will recommend a sentence of eight years, but the charges carry up to 30 years in prison and up to a million dollar fine.