The former office manager of the Porter County Builders Association (PCBA) has been sentenced to four years in prison in connection with the unauthorized use of more than $170,000 in PCBA funds.

Porter Superior Judge Roger Bradford sentenced Evelyn D. Albrecht, 42, of Valparaiso, to four years in the Department of Corrections (DOC) and, on her release, to 12 years of formal probation, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Frost told the Chesterton Tribune today.

Albrecht had pleaded guilty to one count of theft, a Class C felony punishable by a term of two to eight years in prison; and one count of forgery, also a Class C felony.

In addition, Bradford ordered Albrecht to begin repaying the PCBA a minimum of $1,000 per month after her release from the DOC, Frost said.

Albrecht will be eligible for release after serving two years.

In October 2006 Det. Tom Horn of the Valparaiso Police Department began in investigation after PCBA Executive Officer Amy Magana discovered “irregularities,” including “hundreds” of purchases made by Albrecht on the company credit card, for the period 2004-06.

Purchases were made at “numerous retailers who didn’t do business with the PCBA,” Horn stated in his probable cause affidavit, including On Star, Cigarette Discount Outlet, Miller Brewing Company, Scrapbook.com, XM Satellite Radio, Pet Supplies Plus, Old Navy, Sisters Bridal, Victoria’s Secret, and “various medical and eye-care physicians.”

Horn determined that Albrecht had directed the credit card company to send bills to her residence in Valparaiso, “presumably to avoid detection by the PCBA,” he stated in his affidavit, and that she would then pay the credit card bills with PCBA checks.

Those checks bore two signatures, Horn stated, Albrecht’s own and former PCBA president Margaret Frame’s, and Frame advised Horn that she had not signed any of them.

“During a forensic audit performed by the account form of Swartz and Reston, “ Horn stated in his affidavit, “the amount stolen by Albrecht exceeded $170,000. . . . During the investigation, it was also learned that Albrecht wrote herself paychecks to which she was not entitled, withdrew cash in the amount of $10,000 to pay PCBA expense for the 2006 Home and Garden Show when the amount needed was only $500, as well as numerous unauthorized purchases and disbursements.”

Posted 2/26/2008