August 8, 2014 at 4:55 p.m.

Woman charged with embezzling from animal clinic pleads not guilty

Woman charged with embezzling from animal clinic pleads not guilty
Woman charged with embezzling from animal clinic pleads not guilty

An Arbor Vitae woman charged with embezzling over $30,000 from the Northwoods Animal Hospital in Minocqua entered a not guilty plea Monday in Oneida County Circuit Court.

Brenda J. Wigglesworth, 47, entered her plea during an arraignment hearing before Branch I Judge Patrick O'Melia. Wigglesworth is charged with one felony count of theft in a business setting greater than $10,000. If convicted, she faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and up to $25,000 in fines.

Wigglesworth is accused of taking the money while she was employed as a bookkeeper and office manager at the hospital.

According to the criminal complaint, an independent accountant hired by the animal hospital in June 2013 reported various bookkeeping irregularities. In the report cited in the criminal complaint, the accountant claimed that Wigglesworth:

• Did not deposit entire proceeds of hospital earnings

• Wrote checks and used business credit cards for personal expenses

• Made loans to herself and other employees

• Did not bill certain customers;

• Padded contributions to her and other employees' retirement accounts

• Excessively reimbursed health care costs

• Abused pay for vacation and personal days.

The criminal complaint alleges that the police investigation verified at least some of the accountant's findings.

Wigglesworth's employment at the clinic was terminated in May 2013. At that time she allegedly wrote a check to the hospital's owners for what she described as "what I owe the clinic."

She was arrested on June 9 of this year and made her initial appearance the next day.

The Minocqua Police Department began its investigation into Wigglesworth in April 2013. Former Minocqua Police Chief Andrew Gee handled the investigation exclusively until last October when he resigned. Gee's eventual successor, David Jaeger, assigned a sergeant to the case and also asked for assistance from the Oneida County Sheriff's Department and Wisconsin Department of Justice.

During Wigglesworth's preliminary hearing on July 3, Assistant District Attorney Steven Michlig alleged that she did not deposit entire proceeds of hospital earnings, wrote checks and used business credit cards for personal expenses and made unauthorized loans to herself and other employees, among other alleged improprieties. She is also accused of opening unauthorized lines of credit totaling more than $196,000 in an effort to cover her tracks, according to Michlig.

Also at the preliminary hearing, Detective-Sergeant Philip Newcomb of the Oneida County sheriff's office testified he found repeated instances in which the amount of cash missing from the hospital's daily cash logs matched deposits Wigglesworth made to her personal bank accounts.

As an example, Newcomb said $540 went missing one day in the fall of 2012. He testified that on the same day, Wigglesworth deposited the same amount - $540 - into her personal bank account.

Defense attorney Lindsay Erickson has questioned the propriety and sufficiency of the investigation.

O'Melia scheduled a pretrial conference in this case for 1:30 p.m. Oct. 28. If a plea agreement is not reached by that date, trial dates will be set.

Wigglesworth remains free on a $15,000 signature bond.

Lakeland Times reporter Jonathan Anderson contributed to this story.

Jamie Taylor may be reached at [email protected].

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