The case against McGaughey, office manager and bookkeeper for the Nelson & Associates office in Deerfield Twp. since December 2012, began after a supervisor went to her house after she didn’t come work in May 2019, according to Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell.
Company officials reviewed business records and discovered all passwords and fraud alert notifications had been changed to be sent to her, Fornshell said.
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“She had transferred in access of $105,000 from company accounts to her PayPal and personal accounts,” the prosecutor added.
Through the Ohio Casino Commission, investigators determined McGaughey “had been gambling large amounts of money during 2018 and 2019 in addition to taking several vacations during that period,” Fornshell said.
Further investigation determined she used Nelson & Associates credit accounts to purchase home appliances, lawn mower, lawn furniture, prepaid gift cards and other items at Staples and Home Depot stores.
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McCaughey is also alleged to have set up new American Express accounts to purchase air line tickets, vacations and other unauthorized purchases, altering computer records and forging bank statements to conceal the missing funds, Fornshell said.
She is also accused of setting up fictitious PayPal and Visa accounts using the name of a former employee and her contact information.
Sheriff’s deputies seized personal property, appliances, a lawn mower, lawn furniture and financial records from her home on Ponca Court in Kettering.
The alleged crimes occurred between January 2018 and May 2019, according to description included with a list of indictments issued Monday.
The case has been assigned to Judge Robert Peeler.
McGaughey is scheduled for arraignment on March 20 in Warren County Common Pleas Court. The charges were issued directly by a Warren County grand jury.
On Monday, Fornshell said she was still “at large.”
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