Bookkeeper for Natick Company Indicted for Allegedly Stealing More Than $183,000

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A bookkeeper for a Natick company is facing charges of larceny and forgery after prosecutors say she stole more than $183,000 from the business.

Theresa Zimmerley, 56, of Ashland, has been indicted on charges of larceny over $250 from a person 60 years or older, forgery, uttering a false document, false entries in corporate books, and a violation of the witness intimidation statute, the district attorney’s office announced. An arraignment date will be scheduled.

“The owner of the company this defendant worked for had the expectation that she could be trusted,” said District Attorney Marian Ryan in a press release. “But she allegedly violated that trust and secretly diverted tens of thousands of dollars of company money to herself. Reports are that the deception was very calculated, in that she allegedly diverted checks but then covered up that activity by making changes in a software database so anyone else would assume the money was going to appropriate entities.”

Natick police got a call from the owner of Sullivan Surveying Company on Oct. 21, 2014, the owner saying he suspected theft after he had gone to the bank to make a withdrawal and the account balance was low. Officers visited the owner’s office, escorting Zimmerly, working as the company’s booker, from the business after she had been fired.

Investigators say that Zimmerly allegedly cashed 154 company checks for a total theft of $183,332.87 during the time period of Sept. 1, 2013, to Oct. 18, 2014. Zimmerly reportedly used the accounting system on the company’s computer to generate checks that were made payable to herself, then forged the owner’s signature, and cashed them at banks in Ashland and Framingham.

Zimmerly attempted to cover her tracks, say authorities, on some of these checks by going into the general register of the accounting system and changing the payee on the checks that had been made out to her. She used the names of frequent service providers of the company’s. Investigators also say that Zimmerly made repeated attempts to discourage the business owner from cooperating with police, and changed the password in the company’s email system, locking the owner out of it.

“This case shows the value of cooperation and teamwork in an investigation,” said Natick Police Chief James Hicks in a release. “Many organizations, including several different banks, were able to gather the necessary information to bring this forward for this indictment. It is unfortunate that people, for various reasons, take advantage of the trust they are given by their employers to advance their needs or desires.”

This case is being investigated by the Natick Police Department and the Special Investigations Unit of the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.

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