FAIRBANKS — A Fairbanks woman charged with embezzling more than $100,000 from the North Slope Borough Police Department while she worked there as an evidence custodian has been sentenced to less than a year in prison.
Margaret Ann Solomon was given an eight-month prison sentence Friday and ordered to pay $109,623 in restitution, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported (http://bit.ly/2gXJDVp).
The 48-year-old woman worked for the department in Barrow from 2006 to 2012, according to a news release from the State Attorney’s Office. The alleged thefts occurred during her final year of employment and were discovered after an audit of the evidence room revealed $207,563 in missing funds.
Auditors had been unable to determine how much of the missing money was taken by Solomon, who was one of three people assigned to work in the evidence room. The room was also left open and unattended from time to time, making it difficult to track the missing evidence, the release states.
The amount Solomon was charged with stealing was determined by totaling the unaccounted for cash deposits she made into her bank account while working at the department.
Solomon is accused of using some of the money to gamble online.
U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline said during the Friday sentencing hearing that Solomon “hurt the police department, hurt the community and potentially hurt victims,” the release says.
