September 21, 2015 at 5:17 p.m.
Wigglesworth draws 9 months in jail for embezzlement from animal hospital
Wigglesworth draws 9 months in jail for embezzlement from animal hospital
Brenda J. Wigglesworth pled no contest June 26 to a single charge of theft in a business setting (over $10,000) after reluctantly accepting a plea agreement offered by assistant district attorney Steve Michlig. Branch I Judge Patrick O'Melia then found her guilty.
The agreement called for four months in jail and five years probation, along with restitution to be determined by O'Melia at a separate hearing. She was also required to pay at least $15,000 in restitution prior to sentencing as a further condition of the agreement. That money was to be placed in the trust account of her attorney, Lindsay Erickson, before the sentencing hearing.
The owners of the Northwoods Animal Hospital in Minocqua, where Wigglesworth was the bookkeeper and office manager, say she took over $30,000 from the business over a period stretching back possibly as far as 10 years. A report by their new accountant introduced into evidence by Michlig at Friday's sentencing hearing said the amount she stole could be as high as $100,000.
Two of the veterinarians and the wife of one of them addressed O'Melia before closing statements were made.
The first veterinarian told O'Melia about the day in July 2013 when he first discovered something was wrong with his business's books.
"I was home, I opened my mail and I was startled that there was a letter from the federal government. It was from the IRS informing us that we had payroll taxes that were overdue. And also in that letter, they also stated they would do anything necessary, take any of assets of mine, including my business, our building or even my home, (to cover the debt)," he said.
He called the resulting stress "overwhelming" and said he was surprised that the letter had come to his home instead of the clinic.
About the same time, he said he and his partner had become frustrated with their current accounting firm and the information they were getting from them.
"So we sought services elsewhere," the veterinarian said. "Within a half hour of handing (them) our books they informed us that someone was stealing from the business. We were in disbelief immediately. We didn't think that anyone would be doing anything like that."
The veterinarian said the accountant showed them numerous places in the records where funds were being misappropriated. He said he and his partner were "angry, disappointed, upset and very, very disgusted."
He said that the news caused sleeplessness, fatigue, loss of appetite and weight loss.
"The stress of the situation was immense," he said.
At the time, the two partners realized that they "needed to put someone in our operation that we could trust," so both their wives stepped in to take over the day-to-day operation of the office as well as try to figure out just how much money was missing.
He said Wigglesworth quit within a week of the two wives coming in and the accountant starting to examine the operation and the bookkeeping. At first that made things difficult, he said, but it soon became apparent that Wigglesworth had been taking money "to satisfy her needs and those of a few other employees." This included paying off garnishments she had against her income and giving herself and other employees unauthorized loans.
As a result of the thefts, the business had to take out bank loans to pay credit card interest and tax penalties from the IRS. He also said there were times that the clinic had problems getting supplies and medicines from vendors who had also gone unpaid because of the cash flow problem Wigglesworth caused. He said the partners also had to borrow money from their 401K accounts to help keep the business afloat.
"The payback on those accounts alone will be at least five years," he said. "Not only that but that is money we could have had available for our retirement. Those (retirement) plans have been set back a minimum of five years. It's not just the finances that have been affected by this, it's also the time that has been stolen from the people involved as well."
Adding to the strain, during this time,his wife was diagnosed with cancer and instead of heeding her doctor's advice and resting she continued to come to the clinic to work. Her father also passed away during this time and she was robbed of spending quality time with him in his last days.
The situation also affected many of the hospital's employees.
"We lost many good employees during this time," he added. "Although the recovery process will take years, I'm proud of the employees that still make up our business."
The veterinarian's wife was the next person to offer a victim's impact statement to O'Melia.
"The first thing I wasn't to say is that we trusted you and that was a terrible mistake," she said. "Not only did you steal our money, you also stole our time."
She said Wigglesworth stole time she could have spent with her children, stole joy from her life and almost stole everything her husband and his partner had worked to create. She said the stress she was under the first few weeks after the embezzlement was uncovered "was indescribable."
"Did you know we were one month away from having to close three wonderful animal hospitals, which are extremely important assets in our Northwoods? But you didn't care. You kept right on stealing, falsifying records in QuickBooks and turning in bogus business reports," she said.
She called some of Wigglesworth actions in hiding her embezzlement "clever" as the new accountant said one check she issued to herself "was bounced around between seven different accounts" in QuickBooks. Yet she added some of her other thefts were "obvious" such as skimming money from bank deposits or writing checks to herself.
"It's all in our computer as evidence," she told Wigglesworth. "I think you thought you would never get caught, but we got you. It's sickening how much you actually took from us, we may never know."
She called Wigglesworth's repeated denials that she did anything wrong "incredible."
She hoped that the punishment she receives will deter others from "stealing from a business that employs them."
"I hope you are suffering the same kinds of stress that you caused us to suffer," she added.
The other veterinarian also addressed the judge. He described how Wigglesworth's actions had affected his family, his business and himself professionally.
"It is apparent on a day-to-day basis that employee morale has been significantly impacted," the vet said. "We attribute this mainly to the atmosphere of mistrust that has been created in the wake of Miss Wigglesworth's conduct."
He said he had worked for 26 years to "create a successful business, and Miss Wigglesworth's actions almost cost us and our employees our employment."
He cited the loans she made to herself and other employees, often repaid directly to her in cash, as one of the actions that really upset him, along with using clinic money to pay her own debts while neglecting to pay payroll taxes and the hospitals sewer and water bills.
"I don't know anywhere else where you can get an unauthorized, no interest, no repayment loan, especially when you are not even paying the bills that are keeping the company's doors open,' he said. "She was consistently robbing Peter to pay Paul, and she was Paul."
Michlig told O'Melia the evidence is clear that Wigglesworth skimmed money from daily deposits, made unauthorized loans to herself and other employees, and issued checks to herself. He said the $45,000 in unauthorized credit card debt alone she caused the hospital to incur to help conceal her embezzlement was "shocking."
"I think it was difficult to determine how much she actually stole," he admitted.
He added that although she has accepted a plea agreement Wigglesworth has continued to refuse to acknowledge what she did or that it was wrong.
"I don't think you're going to see much remorse from her," he said.
Defense attorney Lindsay Erickson said she disagreed with how her client has been portrayed by the prosecution throughout the case. She said Wigglesworth told the owners there was a cash-flow problem. She said the owners gave loans to employees in the past and said if Wigglesworth had wanted to steal a large amount of money she would have taken some of the $45,000 cash advance from the credit cards "instead of putting it into the business to pay vendors."
She repeatedly called the loss the hospital suffered "an unfortunate situation" and argued her client had no "malicious intent" in taking the money. She asked that Wigglesworth be sentenced to only 30 days in jail and be given 60 days to begin serving the sentence so she can continue to earn money toward restitution.
"I think we all agree that Miss Wigglesworth was robbing Peter to pay Paul and just got caught up in the situation," Erickson said.
Wigglesworth then addressed O'Melia. She said she "felt responsible for the late fees and interest" on the credit cards she took out but refused to accept responsibility for anything else. She added that she will "continue to suffer financially" for many years as she continues to make restitution to her former employer.
O'Melia repeatedly gave Wigglesworth opportunities to admit her guilt and express remorse but she declined.
"I don't know if you are capable of admitting that you did anything wrong," O'Melia said at one point. He added that he did not believe her claims that she did what she did to "save the business."
He then withheld sentence and placed Wigglesworth on probation for five years with the first nine months to be served in jail. He said a restitution hearing will be held to determine how much she still owes the hospital's owners.
O'Melia could have sentenced her to up to 10 years in prison and ordered her to pay a fine of up to $25,000. If she violates the terms of her probation at any time, the district attorney's office could still ask him to impose those maximums.
Michlig asked that Wigglesworth be taken into custody immediately but Erickson asked that her client be given at least a week to get her affairs in order.
O'Melia flatly denied the defense request.
"I agree (with Michlig), this has drug on long enough," he said.
When Erickson interjected that Wigglesworth would lose her job, thus jeopardizing her chances of making restitution, O'Melia replied "I will not be held hostage to her ability to pay restitution."
Jamie Taylor may be reached at [email protected].
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