A Custer County woman accused of stealing thousands of dollars over several years from a construction business she was a partner in is facing two felony charges.
Custer County prosecutors have charged Rashell Berdahl-Zumpf, who was responsible for the business's bookkeeping, with felony theft and forgery.
She remains free without bond pending a hearing Feb. 4 in Custer County District Court, according to the county attorney's office.
Charging documents state that Berdahl-Zumpf and Warren Scheeler went into business with Jeremy Pyle in April 2009 under the name Pyle Construction. Berdahl-Zumpf and Scheeler were each 25 percent shareholders and Pyle owned 50 percent of the business.
After receiving complaints of non-payment from vendors, Pyle took the company’s bookkeeping records to a certified accountant, who found “numerous discrepancies” dating back to when the business was founded in 2009, the documents say.
The accountant found that Berdahl-Zumpf’s records, maintained using QuickBooks, indicated that bills were being paid on time, but in reality she was paying the checks to herself or to Scheeler, according to the documents.
One check documented in QuickBooks as being paid to a vendor in the amount of $73.69 cleared the bank as written to Berdahl-Zumpf in the amount of $3,000, the documents state. Another check that was documented as a payment of $24.75 to a vendor cleared the bank as a written to Scheeler for $3,000.
Scheeler has not been charged, according to the county attorney's office.
The accountant found many other discrepancies, including that Pyle hadn't received fair compensation for his share of the business, the court records say.
Pyle could not be reached for comment.
The Custer County Attorney’s Office declined to say how much money may have been stolen from the business, but the discrepancies listed in the affidavit total more than $15,000.
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