Georgia bookkeeper stole over $1 million from coin shop

Alice Sue Smith was the bookkeeper at a family-owned coin shop, Chattanooga Coin, for 14 years, and prosecutors say she was embezzling from the business for 9 of them. Smith was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison and ordered to pay $1.48 million in restitution. Smith’s salary from this position was under $30,000 a year, and she was struggling to support her family when she grew desperate. Her attorney says that her aims were not to live lavishly, but she felt pressure to provide when her family hit a rough patch. That included paying for her husband’s medical surgeries and supporting the family while he was out of work, caring for her older sister after a stroke and helping her daughter after a divorce.

According to court filings, Smith began embezzling from the business in April 2009 by forging Revels’ signature on checks. Prosecutors said she covered her tracks by lying on the check stubs. On one occasion, Smith reportedly wrote a check for $900 but wrote on the stub that it had been issued for $23.60 at a coffee shop. She’s accused of embezzling more than $1 million between April 2009 and August 2018. Smith was also accused of embezzling more than $100,000 from a previous employer. She was sentenced to 12 years of probation, which she was still serving when she started embezzling at Chattanooga Coin.

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