Ex-employee charged with stealing $45K from business

A 34-year-old woman was charged last week in Ozaukee County Circuit Court with embezzling more than $45,600 from the Port Washington auto body shop where she worked as the office manager.

Belgium resident Jacquelyn R. Harris, who faces one felony count of theft in a business setting, is accused of stealing more than $37,000 from Kaliber Collision Repair by writing checks to herself and using the company’s credit card to make $8,600 in personal purchases.

According to the criminal complaint, Harris worked as the office manager for Kaliber from July 26, 2021, to July 21, 2022, although she returned in September to train her replacement.

The new office manager was reconciling the business ledger with bank statements when she noticed discrepancies on checks that were written by Harris. She and business owner Bill Krzyanek determined that Harris had written dozens of fraudulent checks, the complaint states.

Krzyanek and the new office manager also discovered that rather than keeping the company credit card in her desk at work, as was company policy, Harris had been carrying it with her and had the statements sent to her personal email account, according to the complaint.

On the December 2021 credit card statement, a charge of $953 from Walmart was discovered and it appeared that Harris had used the card to purchase Christmas gifts, gaming equipment and toiletry items, the complaint states.

The February 2022 statement included charges from Amazon for the purchase of items Krzyanek didn’t authorize and that were shipped to Harris’ home address, according to the complaint.

Harris is free in lieu of $5,000 bail. She has been ordered by Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Sandy Williams not to leave the state or have contact with Kaliber Collision Repair, the company’s office manager or Krzyanek.

Theft in a business setting is punishable by a maximum five years in prison and five years of extended supervision.