A former payroll manager at an Illinois orthodontics practice, who admitted to stealing $35,000 from her employer to pay herself bonuses, has been sentenced to two years of probation, according to a story published on December 2 in the Lake McHenry Scanner.
Linda Miller, 61, of Hampshire, IL, who pleaded guilty in October to one count of theft between $10,000 and $100,000, also must pay $35,000 in restitution to Straight Smiles Orthodontics, which does business as Frey Orthodontics in Algonquin, IL. Her 90-day jail sentence has been stayed, and it will not be imposed unless Miller fails complete her probation successfully, according to the story.
From 2016 to 2019, Miller reportedly obtained more than $10,000 in funds from a business bank account for Straight Smiles Orthodontics while managing employee payroll at the business. She purportedly used the funds to give herself unauthorized “bonuses” and also unlawfully used a company’s line of credit, according to the story.
Miller, who used the money to pay her own personal bills, was eventually fired from the practice for theft. Initially, she claimed that she wasn’t paid for overtime that she was owed so she added bonuses to her checks.
Prosecutors said Miller took $57,047, including $14,000 in bonuses, $19,828 in unauthorized use of the practice’s banking information, and $23,218 in unauthorized added pay, but her defense attorney disagreed. Miller’s defense attorney said initial restitution figures provided by the prosecution totaled $35,000, and this was a mitigating factor to her pleading guilty, according to the story.
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