Former Polish Club secretary pleads guilty to theft
A Washington woman will pay restitution and serve probation for purloining thousands of dollars from a Canton Township social club while she worked there.
Bonnie J. Barlow, 57, entered a guilty plea to a theft charge before Washington County Common Pleas Judge Valarie Costanzo Tuesday in a deal with prosecutors and received a two-year probation sentence.
State police filed the charge against Barlow in March. Court papers indicate the president of the Polish Club on Griffith Avenue told a trooper Barlow was hired early last year as the financial secretary.
State police said Barlow would purposely record the wrong totals from cash sales and keep the remainder of the cash, according to the charging papers. Police said she’d stolen $6,256 this way between February 2017 and January.
“She’s terribly sorry for the accounting errors and she’s done everything humanly possible to make things right,” said Sean Logue, Barlow’s defense attorney.
Costanzo also ordered Barlow to pay $1,956 in restitution in monthly installments of at least $90. She’s been free on her own recognizance.
Logue confirmed Barlow no longer works for the club. He said she has already paid back more than $4,000 to the club when she appeared for a previous hearing in the case.