A former administrative assistant at a Westbrook engineering firm allegedly stole more than $400,000 from her employer by intercepting checks the firm had written to vendors and received from clients and depositing them in her own account.
Kristan Crow, 39, of Arundel is accused of depositing 244 checks totaling about $423,564 into her account between April 2018 and September 2021, then using the money for her own benefit, according to an FBI affidavit.
Crow is charged with four counts of wire fraud in U.S. District Court in Portland.
Crow worked as an administrative assistant for Walsh Engineering Associates Inc. from 2017 until September 2021, when she resigned, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit doesn’t identify the company she worked for, but the firm is identified in subsequent filings in the case.
In October 2021, Walsh Engineering Associates received a statement and phone call from a vendor that claimed the company failed to pay $4,000 that was due in May of that year. That’s when the company discovered the check had been deposited in Crow’s bank account and was never sent to the vendor, the affidavit said.
Crow was the only person other than the firm’s owner with access to the company’s bookkeeping software, according to the affidavit. She allegedly deposited the checks using her bank’s mobile deposit feature.
The company’s owner filed a report with the Westbrook Police Department the next month. That same month, several other vendors reached out to the company about unpaid bills that the company thought it had paid.
Crow faces four Class C felony charges that come with the possibility of a prison sentence of up to 20 years and a fine of up to twice the amount stolen.
Crow was released on an unsecured bond of $25,000 on Oct. 6.
Her attorney, Richard Berne, declined to comment.
