Rapid City Woman's Business Puts Brakes on Embezzlement

By Jim Holland, Rapid City Journal

Rapid City- Jeannine Egan just wanted to help businesses revamp their filing systems. She didn't intend to become an embezzlement investigator, but that's what happened when she bEgan marketing her Peel, Stick and Drop office filing system.

"Every day, each employee arrives at the office door with his or her own set of pains and sorrows," Egan said on her Web site, www.psdoffice.com. "Some lessen that grief by taking and using what doesn't belong to them."

A Native of Canada, Egan started the Checks N' Balances bookkeeping firm in Rapid City a decade ago. Years of experience in business organization helped her to develop and market her office filing system.

She has uncovered more than two dozen instances of employee embezzlement throughout the Black Hills since March, when she bEgan marketing her filing system.

"I had no clue this would happen" she said.

Not all of the cases were turned over for prosecution.

Evidence of financial shenanigans usually shows up in accounts-payable records.

If embezzlers are siphoning off funds, it's a safe bet that someone else - a supplier, utility company or even the tax man - isn't getting paid, and that will lead to trouble in a big hurry, she said.

"Unfortunately, you can't claim you didn't know what you were doing when you started the business," she said. "You need to know before you open the door."

Breaking the news of an employee's embezzlement to an owner is difficult, she said.

"It's sad," she said. "These people are mortgaging everything, banking their futures to follow their dreams, and they're being stolen blind."

Egan recounted one incident when she was hired to revamp a business's filing system. A bookkeeper immediately became defensive and refused to open a desk or give Egan access to files.

Eventually, the owner gave the employee a paid vacation with a bonus.

As expected, the employee's desk and office filing cabinets were locked up tight. "We had the crowbar ready," Egan said.

Egan opened the drawers and found a stack of unopened federal tax-levy notices. She found unopened bank statements in a closet.

"Because that person picked up the mail every day, the owner was unaware there were any problems," she said.

While converting the existing record-keeping, Egan found evidence of embezzlement.

"I won't do it if the owner doesn't want to prosecute," she said. "I can't go through that roller-coaster for nothing."

If a business owner decides to take legal action, Egan turns her information over to police investigators, who complete the case. Formal charges are filed by the state's attorney's office.

With her knowledge of office finances, she's given us really strong cases to turn over to the state's attorney's office," police detective Steve Neavill said.