QUEEN ANNE’S COUNTY WOMAN SENTENCED TO JAIL FOR STEALING MONEY FROM FORMER EMPLOYER

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Rolane Sue Thom , 58, was sentenced for stealing money from her former employer, Botanical Treasures, Inc. Thom, who lives in the 13000 block of Main Street, Queen Anne, MD, admitted taking more than $50,000.00 between 1998 and 2001 while she was employed as a bookkeeper for Botanical Treasures, Inc., a garden ornament and gift store located in the Queenstown Outlet Center. The Honorable Thomas G. Ross, Circuit Court for Queen Anne’s County, noting that Thom’s theft has had "such an impact on your employers" and was a "clear-cut violation of the trust they (the employers) had for Thom," sentenced Thom to 15 years imprisonment, suspended all but 18 months of the sentence, placed Thom on five years of supervised probation and ordered her to pay $50,524.610 in restitution to the owners of Botanical Treasures, Inc.

An investigation conducted by the Criminal Investigations Division, revealed that beginning in February 1998 through February 2001, Thom cashed checks from Botanical Treasure’s bank accounts and deposited money into her personal bank accounts. Thom would sometimes forge the signature of her employer and other times make the checks out to herself for cash. Thom would also cash or deposit checks into her personal account that were made out to third parties and, in some cases, after the checks cleared and were returned, Thom would alter the payee from “cash” to various third party vendors. The amount stolen from Botanical Treasures was determined to be $50,524.61: $7,894.97 in 1998; $26,597.30 in 1999; $12,955.26 in 2000; and $3,077.08 in 2001.

The case was prosecuted by the Office of the Attorney General, Criminal Investigations Division with the assistance of the Maryland State Police.

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