A former assistant at an Oak Harbor construction company is accused of embezzling at least $97,000, according to court records.

Prosecutors charged 36-year-old Jill Baum of Oak Harbor in Island County Superior Court Nov. 20 with one count of theft in the first degree for fraudulently spending money on multiple Cascade Custom Homes credit cards.

Baum pleaded not guilty Dec. 4.

According to a report by Detective Carl Seim with the Oak Harbor Police, the owner of Cascade Custom Homes discovered in August that his assistant, Baum, had been making thousands of dollars worth of unauthorized purchases on the company’s credit cards.

It turned out, Seim wrote, that Baum had spent large amounts of money on five separate credit card accounts over a nine-month period.

She fraudulently used the credit cards to put money down on a pickup and purchased an unusual variety of goods and services, including airline tickets, furniture, Botox, hair extensions, vibrational therapy, restaurant meals, a Christmas tree and fancy underwear, the report states.

The final tally of the theft is actually about $138,000, said Heather DeHay, Cascade Custom Homes’ former bookkeeper who recently audited the company’s books.

Besides stealing, DeHay said Baum wasn’t paying the company’s taxes and left the books in shambles. She said the company is now doing fine, but Baum’s actions caused a lot of hardship for the owner and his family.

“We want to make sure she doesn’t do this to anyone else in the company,” she said.

According to the police report, Baum admitted “using the company credit card for personal use to make her feel good.” Baum said she suffered from depression, the report states, and she intended to pay the company back.

“It’s like, I don’t know, it’s like I can’t stop and I don’t know why. I knew it was wrong,” Baum said, according to Seim’s report.

If convicted, Baum would face two to six months in jail under the standard sentencing range. But in addition, the prosecutor is alleging aggravating factors that could mean more jail time beyond the top of the standard range. The maximum sentence is 10 years in prison.

The aggravating factors are that the crime was a major economic offense; involved multiple offenses; caused loss substantially greater than typical for the offense; involved a high degree of sophistication or planning over a length of time; and the defendant used her position of trust, confidence or fiduciary responsibility to facilitate commission of the offense.

You can reach News-Times reporter Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.

com or call 675-6611.