BRENTWOOD — A Salem woman facing charges she stole $174,000 while working as a local bookkeeper is now being investigated to determine whether she has stolen even more, prosecutors said.
Karen Susi, 46, of Sandy Beach Road is scheduled to appear in Rockingham County Superior Court today to be arraigned. But prosecutors expect her lawyer to waive the hearing, which will allow her to remain free on bail.
Susi was indicted on 19 counts of theft by unauthorized taking for allegedly pilfering from a paint finishing company, B&K Industrial Finishing, between January 2007 and July 2008.
County Attorney James Reams declined to say whether Susi, who worked as an independent bookkeeper in Londonderry, is suspected of stealing from other clients.
"It's an ongoing investigation and the numbers are big," Reams said. "But we don't think we have all of it yet. We're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's some big numbers."
So far, investigators have linked Susi to the theft of $171,614.11, according to Reams.
"I suspect it's going to be one of the largest embezzlement cases we've seen in a long, long time," he said.
Susi was reported to Londonderry police in February when Barry Kendall, the owner of a finishing company she worked for, discovered Susi had been writing checks to herself from his business account, according to an affidavit by police Sgt. Michael McCutcheon.
Susi was being paid $375 a week while working for Kendall. She worked for him for about 16 years. She owned Professional Bookkeeping Services, a bookkeeping business on Orchard Street in Londonderry, police said.
When Kendall's business moved from Manchester to Concord in January, Susi transferred all the business accounts from the company's computers to her own storage devices, according to the affidavit.
"When Barry attempted to contact Karen about this, she was not available," McCutcheon wrote. "Barry began to check his accounts and found that Karen had been writing herself checks on the business account."
Between Aug. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2008, Susi wrote checks to herself totaling $43,355.48, McCutcheon wrote. She cashed $13,213 in checks at the TD Banknorth in Londonderry and withdrew another $30,141 by check at various bank locations, the affidavit said.
Police have since executed a search warrant on the bank account maintained by the business to examine the activity of the account, according to documents at Derry District Court.
Susi was arrested in February, and a grand jury handed down 19 indictments, all class A felonies, earlier this month. If convicted, she could face seven and a half to 15 years in state prison for each of the 19 charges.
