(WFRV) – A woman from Manitowoc is facing six charges after she allegedly used her employer in Allouez’s card to order tens of thousands of dollars worth of items for herself.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by Local 5, 37-year-old Belinda Gehl is accused of stealing from her employer. The employer is a group home in Allouez.
Gehl was reportedly the coordinator of the home and resigned on March 12, 2020. Before she resigned, Gehl submitted handwritten receipts for things bought with company cards and money. It was mentioned that it was ‘suspicious’ that the receipts were handwritten and not itemized.
The receipts only said ‘Amazon’ for the purchases.
The day after Gehl resigned, an employer went to the business to investigate possible fraud. It was found that Gehl’s Amazon account was directly linked to the employer’s card. That card is reportedly funded by money provided by Wisconsin for the consumers.
Purchases that Gehl allegedly made were sent directly to her home in Manitowoc. The Amazon account was changed to her information which prevented the company from viewing the purchases.
Authorities found multiple purchases where Gehl allegedly bought gift cards using customers’ names of her employer. Investigators found the following information regarding her purchases:
- The date range was from December 2019 to March 2020
- Ten gift card purchases equaled $1,390.45
- 151 shipments sent to Gehl’s address added up to $22,160.02
- All 151 shipments listed the shipping phone number associated with Gehl
Gehl provided a statement to authorities. In her statement, she said that the merchandise was sent to her house because she ‘may have forgotten’ to get the address changed. Some of the items she bought included:
- Hairbrush
- Shelving
- Treadmill
- Faucet water filter
- Cat products
- Clothing
- Christmas ornament
She estimated that 50% of the items that were sent to her address. Gehl told authorities that she thought she ordered about $1,000 worth of items but later adjusted that estimate to $2,000.
When told that records showed she had over $20,000 worth of items shipped to her house, Gehl said her estimation meant she stole over $11,000. She said ‘I guess things really add up’ in her statement.
Of the 151 purchases, Gehl identified 54 of the purchases to be for personal use, and sixteen she did not know. Gehl claimed that the remaining purchases were for the employer.
Gehl is facing the following charges:
- Theft – Business Setting (>$10,000 – $100,000)
- Felony
- Up to ten years in prison
- Unauthorized Use of an Entity’s Identifying Information or Documents
- Felony
- Up to six years in prison
- Four counts of Misappropriation of Personal Identifying Information or Documents
- Felony
- Each count is up to six years in prison (up to 24 years total)
Court records show that Gehl had her initial appearance in court on August 5. There was no additional information provided.
No additional information was provided.