Ex-bookkeeper gets 10 years

Mississippi

RAYMOND — Ex-Weight Watchers bookkeeper Edith Dianne Belk told a judge Friday she wrote herself 554 checks totaling nearly $1 million from the business over six years to support a gambling addiction.

The 59-year-old Satartia woman's criminal action landed her a 10-year prison sentence.

"I believe this is the largest embezzlement case I have had in 12 years on the bench," senior Circuit Judge Swan Yerger said before sentencing Belk to the maximum. "She didn't take a little; she took a lot. ... She was able to go out and have fun with someone else's money."

After her sentence, Belk flopped to the floor outside the courtroom in the Hinds County Detention Center, crying uncontrollably in a corner. Relatives tried to comfort the hysterical woman.

Her attorney had said before sentencing that murderers get less time.

But the prosecutor said Belk got a break being charged with only one count of embezzlement.

And her former boss said she deserved the maximum. Her actions, he said, not only betrayed his trust but also reduced the money that would have gone into his employees' 401(k) retirement plan.

Belk pleaded guilty in October to stealing more than $921,000 from Weight Watchers Inc. over six years, beginning in 2000. Insurance reimbursed the business $220,000. Also, $26,000 Belk has in a 401(k) retirement plan will go toward repaying the stolen money.

Yerger ordered Belk to make restitution of $674,000, the remainder of the stolen money.

"This is a serious embezzlement and deserves the maximum punishment," Yerger said.

As a first-time, nonviolent offender, Belk could be eligible for parole after serving 15 months.

Belk was allowed to remain free on a $10,000 bond until Jan. 23 so she can complete the paperwork to sign over the $26,000. She will then have to report to the Hinds County Detention Center.

During sentencing, Belk told Yerger she was sorry and blamed her actions on an addiction to gambling.

"It forced me to do things I would have never thought of doing," Belk said. "I wouldn't intentionally try to hurt anyone. I'm sick."

Robert Jacobs, owner of Weight Watchers in Greater Mississippi, said he had trusted Belk. She knew more about his finances than anyone else, including his wife, he said.

Jacobs said he became physically sick when an audit firm began finding discrepancies in the business' financial records, showing Belk had written checks to herself.

"I had trusted this woman for six solid years. ... She had done something I couldn't imagine," Jacobs said.

As a result of Belk's action, Jacobs said he no longer trusts people.

Belk began working for the Weight Watchers' franchise in 1989. The embezzlement began in 2000 and lasted until 2005, when it was discovered.

Belk had written an average of two checks each week to herself in addition to her paycheck, Jacobs said.

The business has 16 full-time and hundreds of part-time employees, Jacobs said.

Prior to Yerger pronouncing sentence, Jacobs said he believed Belk should have been charged with 554 counts of embezzlement instead of the one count.

"She has shown no remorse," Jacobs said. "She tried to transfer everything out of her name into her husband's name."

Jacobs said records show Belk gambled away more than $300,000 of the money, spent $200,000 to $300,000 fixing up a house and gave her family members' money. He said several hundred thousand dollars are still unaccounted for.

But Belk said she doesn't have any money left.

"I spent it at the casino. I didn't just go to Rainbow. I went to all the casinos," she said in court. "I had a real bad sickness. I'm truly sorry. It hasn't been an easy thing for me."

Belk's attorney, John Colette of Jackson, argued prior to sentencing that his client shouldn't face the maximum penalty.

Colette said he can understand the betrayal Jacobs feels, but that Belk is a nearly 60-year-old woman who had never been in trouble before.

"People kill people and don't do that much time," Colette said.

Hinds County Assistant District Attorney Shaun Yurtkuran inherited the case from the administration of then-District Attorney Faye Peterson, which only indicted on the one count. Yurtkuran was hired by current District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith, who took office in January 2008.

In most embezzlement cases, whether federal or state, the crime is considered one action even if it occurred over a period of time.

In 2006, a longtime Trustmark National Bank teller, who also blamed her gaming addiction for breaking the law, was sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to repay $1.3 million she embezzled from the bank.

Astrid Warnock, then-50, of Utica siphoned money from a Trustmark branch in Vicksburg from Jan. 1, 2002, to March 2, 2006. Authorities said she created false debit and credit tickets to disguise her crime. She pleaded guilty to embezzling the money.



Now if you have a gambling addiction and you steal to feed that addiction make sure you only use the money for that reason. Spending it on your house and family makes you look like a .....liar.

oh yeah

DON'T STEAL !!!

Wonder is she got to go to the meetings free...Boy that would make me furious. I've paid lots of money into WW over the years but probably not into that one. I guess all businesses have that kine of thing to contend with tho.