For the week of February 27 - March 5, 2002

Grand jury indicts four on embezzlement charges

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By GREG MOORE
Express Staff Writer

A Blaine County grand jury on Thursday handed down a 15-count felony indictment against four women allegedly involved in the embezzlement last year of more than $100,000 worth of goods and cash from the Angel Wings store in Ketchum.

Ketchum police arrested three of the women in January. A fourth, Laura Alarcon, 25, of Boise, is a newly named defendant.

Linda Hillman, 46, a Hailey resident, is alleged to have bought $12,800 worth of items for herself on an Angel Wings credit card, made out $7,500 worth of unauthorized checks to herself on an Angel Wings account and to have been in possession of $3,870 worth of stolen Angel Wings property. Hillman is also alleged to have helped Alarcon, who is Hillman’s daughter, write an unauthorized check to herself for $4,000 on an Angel Wings account and to have helped her buy $1,489 worth of goods and services for herself on an Angel Wings credit card. According to the Blaine County Prosecutor’s Office, Alarcon has not yet been placed under arrest.

Rhonda Linderman, 30, a Bellevue resident, is alleged to have bought more than $28,000 worth of items for herself on an Angel Wings credit card and to have been in possession of $35,000 worth of property stolen from Angel Wings. The 294 stolen items include small things such as glasses as well as more expensive ones such as a cassette deck.

Luz Clara Ayala, 41, a Hailey resident, is alleged to have been in possession of 104 items, with a total value of $8,560, stolen from Angel Wings. She is also alleged to have used an Angel Wings credit card to buy an armoire worth $839.

Laura Alarcon is alleged to have made out four checks to herself, totaling $4,000, on an Angel Wings account.

Angel Wings has since gone out of business.

The four women are scheduled to be arraigned March 4.

 

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