SALT LAKE CITY — The treasurer of the Friends of Uintah & Daggett County Children’s Justice Center is accused of stealing more than $145,000 from the organization.
Michelle Lyn Coon, 41, was booked into the Uintah County jail on Wednesday for investigation of theft, arrest documents show.
Bank statements for the Vernal-based nonprofit dating as far back as 2012 showed unauthorized withdrawals and charges on Coon’s company-issued card totaling more than $145,000, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The charges included money spent at fast food restaurants, shoe stores, clothing stores, and online stores, as well as phone-related charges, the affidavit says. The investigating detective wrote that he also found copies of checks made out to Coon for thousands of dollars.
When questioned by police, Coon estimated that she had been taking money from the organization for at least 10 years, according to the affidavit.
“She told me it started out as just a little but then described it to me as she was addicted to buying stuff kind of like a drug user would be,” the detective wrote.
A judge on Thursday set Coon’s bail at $10,000.