Ex-office manager guilty of theft from employer

5/27/2009

BOWLING GREEN A former office manager for H&R Block s Bowling Green office pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony theft for stealing more than $115,000 from her employer.

Janet L. Hess, 39, of Helena, Ohio, is to be sentenced July 14 by Wood County Common Pleas Judge Robert Pollex. Although the charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, Wood County Prosecutor Paul Dobson said a plea agreement with Hess includes a recommendation for either local jail time or electronic home monitoring coupled with restitution.

Hess, an employee of H&R Block on Main Street for four years, was in charge of receiving and depositing checks and cash paid by clients but was not depositing the full amounts during time with the firm, from February, 2004, to October, 2008, Melissa Freeman, an assistant prosecutor, said.