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SALT LAKE CITY — An office manager of an engineering firm was arrested and accused of stealing money from the company to pay for things such as car insurance and dental procedures.
Jennifer Turton, 43, of Salt Lake City, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of nine counts of communications fraud and theft.
Turton was the office manager at Ward Engineering, 231 W. 800 South. During an audit of the business, it was discovered that Turton had “issued two checks for herself in the same pay period and deleted the duplicate check in their QuickBooks software,” according to a police affidavit.
The business owner estimates over $100,000 was charged to the business credit cards.
–the affidavit
At that point, the owner of the company decided to review credit card records and discovered “hundreds of unauthorized charges during Jennifer Turton’s employment,” the affidavit states.
Turton was in charge of using company credit cards to purchase office supplies and pay for online subscriptions. But it was discovered that Turton spent “hundreds to thousands of dollars every month on personal purchases. These charges included paying her personal car insurance, chiropractor, dentist visits, etc. with the company credit card,” the affidavit states.
This happened over a 2 1⁄2-year period, according to police.
“The business owner estimates over $100,000 was charged to the business credit cards. A subpoena of her insurance records show she used the company credit cards to pay for her personal auto insurance for a total of $27,956. She used the company credit card to pay for dental procedures that cost over $8,000,” the affidavit states.
