Gardnerville woman sentenced to prison in embezzlement

A Gardnerville woman was sentenced to up to three years in prison today for embezzling from her employer.

Sarah McKinnis, 34, admitted to writing checks between Aug. 28 and Nov. 10, 2009, while she was manager of the Village Motel.

The motel's owner testified that McKinnis forged his signature on at least $9,212 in checks and that he believed she'd taken more money.

He said there was no way to account for the cash that may be missing, but it could easily be as much as the checks she forged.

"Someone will still show up saying they have a reservation, and I don't have any record of it," he said.

The victim said that when he hired McKinnis as manager, the job came with a three-bedroom house. He'd painted and replaced the carpet before she moved in. When she was arrested, he said he found holes in the walls and more than 150 cigarette burns in the carpet.

McKinnis told parole and probation officers that she was a heroin addict. She'd undergone five months of rehab, but relapsed in 2007.

The victim said McKinnis told him she had cancer at one point.

"She started telling everybody she had cancer," he said. "Half the time she didn't work. I was hanging in there with her for a long time."

He said she hid the utility bills from him and the motel was nearly shut off.

While he said he would recover from the theft, the victim told District Judge Michael Gibbons that McKinnis should get prison.

"She lied to me to my face," he said. "She told me eight times that I was like a father to her."

Defense attorney Kris Brown sought probation for McKinnis on the condition that she participate in drug court.

Gibbons agreed that drug court would be the best thing for McKinnis, but that it was important to balance the damage done to the victim and discourage others from embezzling. He said he believed the motel owner's assertion that there was a lot of cash missing that couldn't be accounted for.

"Prison sends a much stronger message," he said. "You're an addict. An addict doesn't care about anything but getting their drugs."

Gibbons ordered her to pay $9,212.12 in restitution to the Village Motel and $700 to Walmart for a stolen television.

She was given credit for 69 days she's served in jail since her arrest. She will be eligible for parole after a year.