A Green Lane woman is facing more than 150 felony charges after she allegedly embezzled $500,000 from her employer in Hatfield, then used a portion of the money to fund weddings for her two daughters.
According to the criminal complaint, Hatfield Township Police were contacted on Sept. 17 by William Hardy, of Hardy Machine LLC, located along the 2300 block of North Penn Road, who said he wanted to make a report of theft of money from his business. Hardy told police that he had received a phone call regarding an overdue payment for a credit card that he believed to have been inactive for several years, but learned that it was currently being used by his office administrator, identified as 58-year-old Carol Snyder, the report states.
Hardy said that further review of his business records showed additional unauthorized purchases, non-business related purchases on business credit cards and a significant amount of business checks written out to Snyder and other unauthorized entities, according to the report. Total losses were estimated to be above $500,000, the report states.
Investigators learned that Snyder had been working for the company for more than 20 years, and in addition to her role as the office administrator, she was solely responsible for payroll, accounts receivable and payable, the balancing of books and the entire financial management of Hardy Machine LLC, the report states.
A review of the past seven years of transactions allegedly revealed the following:
In total, known available records show that Snyder allegedly made 1,758 unauthorized, non-business purchases on the company’s credit cards, with a significant amount of purchases occurring in the areas of East Greenville, Pennsburg and Red Hill, the report states. Purchases included grocery stores, online businesses, a country club rental, DJ, tuxedos and bridal stores that coincided with the weddings of her two daughters, police said.
Hardy said that prior to notifying police, he met with Snyder to discuss the matter. Hardy told police that Snyder stated that she “shouldn’t have done it,” and she allegedly admitted to writing a few checks to herself and using the company credit cards on several occasions over the prior six months, the report states. Snyder also allegedly offered Hardy her entire 401K, adding that she did not want to go to jail, the report states.
Investigators met with Snyder on Sept. 23, at which point she allegedly confessed to using the credit card and writing some checks, the report states. Snyder also allegedly told police that no one assisted her in the embezzlement, and added that she made purchases for food for her kids, police said.
As a result of the investigation, Snyder has been charged with one felony count of dealing in illegal proceeds, 24 felony counts of forgery, two felony counts of theft, one felony count of receiving stolen property and 126 counts of access device fraud.
Snyder was arraigned on Wednesday morning by Magisterial District Judge Ed Levine, who set bail at $200,000 cash. She was then remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility after failing to post bail.
Her next court appearance is a preliminary hearing in front of Judge Levine on Nov. 5 at 11:45 a.m.
(Editor’s note: All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause, and reflects the point of view of the police. Should the defendant choose to issue a public statement, or is later found not guilty or has the charges dropped, we will update this article accordingly.)
See also:
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Hatfield Police Make Arrest In Attempted Residential Burglary Incident
Employee Arrested After Stealing Thousands Of Dollars From Tigers Family Restaurant: Police
Man Repeatedly Strikes Vehicle With Trash Can, Assaults Responding Officers: Police Said
Awaiting Hearing On Child Porn Charges, Man Charged With DUI After Crashing Car
