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‘Behind on bills’ says employee accused of writing self extra checks for thousands

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Allyson N. Reed goes before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court for a bail hearing.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – When a police officer asked the 33-year-old Chehalis office manager if she had any idea where several thousand dollars of missing funds from her workplace had gone, she said she did not.

When the officer then explained that her boss had showed him copies of checks written by her and cashed by her totaling more than $70,000 over and above her normal paychecks, the mother of two looked at the ground and started to cry.

She said she’d gotten behind on her bills and didn’t realize she’d taken that much money.

So say charging documents in the case of Allyson N. Reed, also known as Allyson N. Fuller.

Reed was charged on Monday in Lewis County Superior Court with first-degree theft.

Chehalis police say an officer responded last week to Northwest Heating and Cooling on Southwest Chehalis Avenue regarding the discovery of money missing from the business. Police department spokesperson Linda Bailey said it appeared it occurred over the past five months.

According to charging documents, the company’s owner Wesley Floyd had looked at the accounts after another employee told him he had seen an order for some gift cards and thought it was odd.

Floyd noticed that several checks were issued to Reed, his officer manager, that he didn’t recall writing, some even while he was out of the state, according to documents.

Reed earned about $16 per hour, getting paid once a week, accounting for about 20 of the checks, the documents state, but Floyd found another 147 checks totaling about $72,000, according to the documents.

The Centralia woman was arrested on Friday and booked into the Lewis County Jail.

Charging documents state that before she was taken away, but after she arranged for childcare, she said she wanted to talk with her boss.

Reed told Floyd her parents would pay him back $60,000 to not press charges, the documents state. He said he wouldn’t take their money.

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher told a judge on Monday afternoon the charges included two aggravating factors: that it was a major economic offense and that she used her position of trust, confidence or fiduciary responsibility to carry out the alleged crime.

The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison and/or a $20,000 fine.

Meagher in requesting bail noted Reed had 10 convictions in 2006 for false identity and controlled substance violations. Temporary defense attorney Joely O’Rourke argued the offenses were 10 years old and that Reed has resided in Centralia her entire life.

Judge R.W. Buzzard set bail at $10,000.

He was told Reed plans to hire a lawyer. Her arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.