A woman convicted of embezzling more than $150,000 from a Hailey title company was sentenced Monday to 12 years in prison.
Christine M. Maloney, a 45-year-old Carey woman, came into Blaine County 5th District Court free on bond. She was led out in handcuffs. Maloney will be required to spend four years in prison before she is eligible for parole.
Defense attorney Ron Tyler Bird asked for probation. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Fredback requested a prison sentence.
"I agree with Mr. Fredback that probation would greatly depreciate the seriousness of this crime," said Judge Robert J. Elgee. "I frankly don't think the public accepts that."
Maloney was ordered to repay the money, but officials of AmeriTitle, where Maloney was previously employed, don't foresee that happening.
"AmeriTitle does not believe we will ever see this money again," testified company President Linda Stelle. "The reason we are here today is to help stop people stealing from their employers. Sadly, this is happening more in our industry than it should. Too often embezzlements go unreported and offending employees simply repay the money and are not prosecuted."
Maloney was employed as an escrow agent at AmeriTitle for more than six years before she was arrested last November following an investigation by Hailey police. She pleaded guilty in April to grand theft by embezzlement and admitted to stealing the money from 2005 through 2007.
Stelle, who oversees the companies operations at 44 offices in Idaho, Oregon and Washington, testified that "Chris Maloney chose to steal money for her own gain over and over again."
Stelle said that Maloney employed a "rolling embezzlement" scheme, wherein she stole from other accounts to cover previous thefts. She said Maloney typically embezzled from "the very rich in this community" but also stole $500 from a Hispanic couple who could speak very little English.
"It bothered her not to steal from our company and to put other people in jeopardy," Stelle said. "AmeriTitle made complete reimbursement to all parties affected. But we have a clouded reputation. There's no doubt about that."
Fredback described the thefts as a "complicated scheme to make sure that no one found out about this and she got away with it for a long time."
"This is the kind of crime that takes planning, execution and covering up," Fredback said. "What kind of message does it send if you embezzle for three years and then get caught and simply get to pay the money back."
Bird asked the court for a withheld judgment and that his client be placed on probation. He pointed out that Maloney has no prior criminal record and "believes she can get a job to pay back the money."
Maloney briefly addressed the court: "I don't even know why I started. It's been so long. I want to apologize to everybody. If it takes fourteen years, then I'll pay it back in 14 years."
But Elgee wasn't buying it.
"It's one thing to take that amount of money and get caught," the judge said. "It's quite another thing to take that amount of money and say 'I'm sorry, I will try to pay it back.'"
Christine M. Maloney
