PORT ANGELES — Wednesday marked a year to the day that former Clallam County employee Catherine Betts admitted she stole $1,200 to $1,300 in public funds, according to court documents.
On the anniversary of her admission, one of her two publicly funded lawyers predicted that her trial for allegedly stealing $617,467 will be delayed beyond the scheduled trial date of July 12.
Port Angeles lawyer Loren Oakley of the Clallam County Public Defender’s Office said Wednesday that he and Port Angeles lawyer Harry Gasnick, also of the Public Defender’s Office, won’t likely have time to go through an estimated 60,000 pages of Treasurer’s Office documents to prepare for the trial, which may require the hiring of a forensic accountant to review the evidence.
“With 60,000 pages, I wouldn’t be surprised if we are not able to go to trial on the 12th of July,” Oakley said.
“I can’t imagine we are going to be able to wade through all that by then.”
The documents span 2004 to 2009, when Betts, then the Treasurer’s Office cashier, allegedly stole real estate excise tax proceeds by exchanging checks from property owners with cash from the office’s cash drawer.
She allegedly covered her tracks by altering and destroying office records and creating a hidden spreadsheet on her computer, according to the results of an eight-month investigation by the state Auditor’s Office.
Betts admitted to stealing $1,200-$1,300 on May 19, 2009, when record-keeping anomalies were discovered in her bookkeeping.
She said at the time she needed the money to leave her home.
She was placed on administrative leave and was fired June 19, 2009.
Betts, 46, pleaded not guilty April 23 to first-degree theft, after she arrived in the Clallam County Superior Court in a wheelchair. She is free on her own recognizance. She lives in Shelton.
Neither Oakley nor Dan Sytman, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office, which is prosecuting the case, knew why Betts was in a wheelchair, they said.
They also said they did not know what the stolen money was spent on or if any of it was left.
“I can understand that people want answers and your questions are legitimate,” Sytman said in an e-mail to Peninsula Daily News.
“But there is a legal process playing out, and many tens of thousands of pages of documents to review. Our focus is on doing the job required: obtaining a conviction. I’m sorry I can help answer the questions you’ve asked.”
If found guilty, Betts could be sentenced to up to 10 years.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
