Former hockey association manager convicted of theft

Shakopee Valley News

A jury has convicted a Shakopee woman of stealing money from the Shakopee Hockey Association last year.

Katherine Ann Theis, 24, was charged with stealing more than $10,000 from the SHA in her position as assistant gambling manager from June to August 2016.

Gambling Manager Scott Reed reported the theft to the Shakopee Police Department on Aug. 31, according to charging documents. Both Reed and Theis were responsible for collecting money from pull tabs, bingo and meat raffles at Turtle’s Bar and Grill and the American Legion in Shakopee and then depositing the money into the bank.

Reed told police after closing pull tab games, Reed or Theis would count and collect the money earned. That amount would then be compared to an audit by an external company.

From June 21 to Aug. 29 of 2016, 22 deposits ranging from $24 to $766 were supposed to be made to the association’s bank account but never were, Reed told police. He also reported $753 in cash was missing from the bar and legion.

Reed said he talked with Theis, who started work at the association at the end of March 2016, on Aug. 28, 2016 about the missing money, to which she said “she knew she would have to face the missing money sooner or later,” according to court documents.

However, during the trial, Theis said she was talking about a different situation in which she kept two deposits overnight in her purse and a friend stole the money. She said she paid back the money but thought Reed was questioning her because the deposit was later than usual.

“I had two deposits that were left in my purse overnight ... the bank was already closed ... so I waited until the next morning but that night, the deposits had gone missing out of my purse,” Theis said during the trial. “I was not aware that any of that was missing.”

Theis testified that she told Reed in June she was no longer comfortable making deposits and that she would leave the money in a safe box for Reed to deposit in the bank. Reed denied the conversation happened during his testimony.

Theis did continue to sign receipts for the deposits stating that she either prepared them or made the deposit. Her attorney, Samuel McCloud, argued the signature doesn’t mean the person made the deposit, just that they signed the paper.

“Anybody can deposit money and (Reed) was swearing up and down he couldn’t,” McCloud said in his closing argument.

McCloud said the crux of the case depends on whether or not Reed was indeed making bank deposits, as Theis said he was, in June, July or August.

The Shakopee police detective who investigated the case, Nicki Marquardt, testified that she did not pull footage from the bank’s security cameras, which are typically erased after 30 days.

“How hard would it be to prove that somebody made a deposit at that bank?” McCloud said. “They didn’t pull the video. They made up their mind as soon as Mr. Reed came in and reported it. They didn’t want to prove her innocence.”

Missing money was not an issue before or after Theis left the association, Assistant County Attorney Nelson Rhodus said.

“This is not a case of a simple theft or a one-time mistake, this involved a pattern,” Rhodus said. “(Reed) gave her the benefit of the doubt and all the while, she was continuing to steal under his nose. She abused that trust.”

To convict someone, juries must be sure of a defendant’s guilt beyond any reasonable doubt. Rhodus said there was no reasonable doubt as to the defendant’s innocence.

“There was never a problem before or after the defendant working that pull tab operation,” Rhodus said. “She was given chance after chance to come clean and she continues to try and skirt accountability.”

Theis said during her testimony that money would continue to go missing following the trial.

“Wait until the trial is over,” Theis said. “It’ll happen again. I have no doubt in my mind.”

Since there was no footage of the supposed crime, the conversations or who made the deposits, it came down to who to believe beyond that reasonable doubt.

“You either believe Scott Reed or you don’t,” Rhodus said in his closing argument to the jury.

Theis faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine for the two counts of theft and theft by swindle. The sentencing will be Jan. 29.

The jury began deliberations at 3 p.m. Thursday and the guilty verdict came in Friday afternoon.