A Lakewood Ranch woman who stole more than $46,000 from her employer was sentenced to a year in jail on Thursday.
Kimberly Meredith, 40, was found guilty of fraudulent use of personal identification and grand theft ($20,000 to $100,000).
Meredith worked as a bookkeeper and accountant for the victim’s multiple businesses between 2018 and 2021. Meredith used company credit card accounts to pay for cell phone bills, car payments, restaurant bills, medical procedures, vacation trips, theme parks, car rentals and airline tickets estimated at $25,462, a Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office report stated.
She also used credit cards to purchase airline tickets for her children and friends for an estimated $10,470. She wrote counterfeit payroll checks for $5,327, records showed.
Between January of 2021 and November of 2022, after she was terminated, she changed the passwords to accounting files so her employer could not access them, the report stated.
She then wrote additional checks to herself and her friends and made charges to the credit card for $4,811, the report stated.
Meredith also will have to serve 10 years of probation.
“The Defendant in this case was put in a position of trust as being the bookkeeper and violated that trust by using the businesses finances for her own personal use. The State Attorney’s Office wants to remind employers to conduct background checks and to always monitor their financial statements and internal books each month,” 12th Judicial Court Assistant State Attorney Amanda Morris said.
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