Carol Snyder, 59, of Green Lane.
A Green Lane woman has plead guilty to embezzling more than $500,000 while working as an employee for Hardy Machine LLC in Hatfield Township.
Carol Snyder, 59, plead guilty on Friday to one felony charge of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received. According to a report by Carl Hessler Jr. at the Pottstown Mercury, the open plea means that Snyder has no agreement with prosecutors regarding a sentencing recommendation.
According to the criminal complaint, Hatfield Township Police were contacted on Sept. 17, 2019 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 then-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, according to the affidavit of probable cause. (Note: the updated total included in Hessler’s report states that the theft was actually around $688,000.)
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 of transactions from 2012 through 2019 revealed the following:
As of the time the criminal complaint was written, records showed that Snyder 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 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 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, 2019, at which point she confessed to using the credit card and writing some checks, the report states. Snyder also 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 was 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 remanded to county jail on Oct. 23, 2019 after failing to post $200,000 cash bail. She remains in custody at this time, as she awaits her sentencing hearing in front of Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Branca on Nov. 19.
Snyder faces a maximum of 10 to 20 years in prison, though state sentencing guidelines allow for far less time in prison — as little a nine to 16 months, according to the Mercury.
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