Cody Woman Faces Theft Charges
Written by Andrew-Rossi on November 14, 2017
A Cody woman has been arrested for larceny, accused of stealing cash from the company she worked for while employed as a bookkeeper.
Joy Barela-Vaughn of Cody was arrested last week on charges that she stole cash deposits from her employer, Frank Kraut, while managing the accounts for his properties.
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by Cody Police Detective Juston Wead, Barela-Vaughn was hired in March of last year as bookkeeper for Kraut, who owns Cody Paint and Body, Brewgard’s Sports Bar, and Beartooth Floral, among other properties. The affidavit says that Kraut began to be suspicious when he asked Barela-Vaughn for monthly reports from last year, and they were to him obviously incorrect. After looking into the matter further, he discovered that thousands of dollars were missing from his accounts. Kraut confronted Barela-Vaughn, who admitted to stealing cash deposits from rental payments. Kraut immediately fired her and involved law enforcement.
In the affidavit, Barela-Vaughn stated that she had begun getting collection letters from hospitals and other agencies, and used the cash that she stole to pay off the collection agencies.
The total amount that Barela-Vaughn is accused of taking, to this point, is $10,912.37. She is scheduled to appear on Thursday, November 16 in Circuit Court to face charges of theft over $1,000. The maximum penalty for this charge is 10 years in jail, $10,000 in fines, or both.
