By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Nearly a year after she was arrested, the former director of the Lewis County Historical Museum has still not gone before a jury on theft charges that arose after the discovery the endowment fund of more than $460,000 was drained.
Deborah Sue Knapp
Deborah Sue Knapp, now 53, was in Lewis County Superior Court yesterday as attorneys asked a judge to postpone the trial until March.
Prosecutors allege Knapp routinely issued herself extra pay through payroll draws and used the museum debit card for personal expenses. Knapp has pleaded not guilty and is free on an unsecured bond.
Lawyers have previously asked for postponements based on the tremendous amount of financial records being analyzed but yesterday’s request was more to accommodate several other upcoming trials, according to her attorney Ken Johnson.
Judge Richard Brosey approved the choice to schedule Knapp’s trial for the week of March 4.
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For background, see “Prosecutor: Former museum director gave herself thousands of dollars in fraudulent payroll draws” from Friday December 30, 2011, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Actually the historical society is not part of the county and is a non profit. This means as executive director Ms. Knapp had to answer to a board of directors. This means that there was a lack of oversight all around.
There are no winners in this case. Knapp more than likely started taking money due to financial issues in her life and then it snowballed. And now the society is out over 400k.
I do not condone embezzlement but the cases of stealing money usually involves a lot of other issues. Just my thoughts.
I know the Good Ole Boy Net Work has really showed it’s ugly head. One down hundreds to go!
She must have paid the right County Employees in able to avoid any responsibility.
Anybody else who had embezzled money from the county (non employee) would have been tried and hung to dry a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time ago.