Brownsville woman charged with embezzling over $200,000 from Uniontown company
A Brownsville woman allegedly stole upwards of $200,000 from her employer to fuel a shopping addiction, according to charges filed Wednesday.
Police said Eliza J. Sealy, 50, stole the money between October 2013 and September 2020 from Pine Knob Ventures LLC, an electric services company in Uniontown. At the time she was the office manager and controller for the business.
The missing money came to light when owners of Pine Knob, David Andrew McIntyre and Beth A. Raffle-McIntyre, noticed several unpaid bills and bank charges for insufficient funds.
An accounting firm found “a significant number” of electronic debit charges from the company account that were used to pay Sealy’s personal expenses, court paperwork alleged.
A computer firm found that Sealy used a company computer to complete the transactions, police said.
When the McIntyres talked to Sealy last October, she initially denied making the payments. As she was leaving, she reportedly said if they would have told her, “I would have paid you back,” the complaint stated.
She was fired from Pine Knob the same day, court paperwork stated.
Police noted 342 separate transactions made by Sealy to make her car payment, pay on credit cards or “purchase expensive clothing and jewelry.”
The amount she allegedly stole was $206,468.44, but police noted the company also accrued $3,153 in bank fees for insufficient funds in the account as a result of the charges.
County Detective Steven G. Kontaxes interviewed Sealy on May 7, and wrote in charging documents that she admitted to stealing the money.
She told Kontaxes she was fired from Pine Knob “without any opportunity to explain herself and why she stole the money,” he wrote in the complaint.
“Sealy said that she has a shopping addiction and used the money to pay for things she wanted to purchase for herself,” Kontaxes wrote.
Sealy faces 342 theft charges and seven counts each of dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activities and misapplication of entrusted property.
She is free on a $100,000 unsecured bond and will face a preliminary hearing Sept. 15 before Magisterial District Judge Michael Metros.