Judith Butt, 73, of Birdboro.
A Berks County woman is facing more than a 1,300 felony charges after she allegedly embezzled more than $375,000 from the Gwynedd Office Condominium Association (GOCA) on Sumneytown Pike in Upper Gwynedd Township.
Judith Butt, 73, of Birdsboro, has been charged with felony counts of dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, receiving stolen property, thefts by unlawful taking, theft by deception, access device fraud, theft by failing to make required disbursement of funds, and 1,302 counts of forgery, following a six-month investigation by the Upper Gwynedd Township Police Department.
She is currently free on $50,000 unsecured bail, following her arraignment Tuesday afternoon.
Investigators were contacted by GOCA in March 2023 concerning an alleged embezzlement scheme involving their bookkeeper. Police said GOCA is a group of tenants that occupy suites at 311 Sumneytown Pike, and they hired Butt as their accountant in 2009 to maintain their account and pay bills for sewer, electric, landscaping, cleaning, and other expenses.
Butt was paid $4,200 per year to manage the account, and she used her own computer and equipment to manage the account, police said.
GOCA told police they became aware of the alleged scheme when a representative from the Upper Gwynedd Sewer Authority contacted them regarding a $22,449.60 overdue bill, adding they were going to terminate service as they had not received payment since March 2020. At that point, GOCA members took a cursory look at their account dating back to 2016 – the furthest they could access – and allegedly found numerous unauthorized payments, including checks written to Diamond Appaloosa Ranch in Gilbertsville, according to charging documents.
Butt is partial owner of the ranch, and investigators said there’s no connection between GOCA and the ranch, and there’s no reason any transactions should have occurred between the two organizations.
When initially confronted by GOCA, who requested access to the Quickbooks account, Butt allegedly claimed her computer wasn’t working and made other excuses to deny access, police said. She later wrote GOCA a check for $7,918 claiming it was compensation for her mistakenly writing payments out of the GOCA account instead of her personal account, police said.
Initial efforts by GOCA to view checks dating back to 2016 were stunted by Butt having changed all billing and account activity to her home address in Birdsboro, police said. She later provided 11 sealed envelopes containing check records from the account to GOCA, however police said 10 of the sealed envelopes were faked to appear as if they were sent via USPS, and the checks inside did not match with the account records provided from the bank, according to police.
Further investigation showed that between 2016 and 2023, Butt had wrongfully dispersed $375,928.44 via overpayments to herself, overpayments to family members who provided cleaning services, checks to the Diamond Appaloosa Ranch, and automatic and electronic payments to Lowes, Verizon, Best Buy, American Express, Home Depot, and other companies.
“Judith Butt had utilized her access and control over the Gwynedd Condominium Association’s account and wrongfully dispersed $375,928.44 to benefit herself and others connected to her without permission or consent from the board,” said investigators, in the affidavit of probable cause. “She tried to conceal and prolong this activity by creating fake bank records, fake envelopes, and even fake United States postage to cover her activity.”
Butt was arraigned Tuesday by Magisterial District Judge Henry Schireson. Her next court appearance is a preliminary hearing on Sept. 28 at 11 a.m. in front of Magisterial District Judge Suzan Leonard.
Attorney information for Butt was not available at the time of publication.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using police reports, court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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