EMLENTON BOROUGH, Pa. (EYT) — Felony theft charges have been filed against a woman accused of stealing over $15,000.00 from an area business.

Court documents indicate the Emlenton Police Department filed criminal charges on Thursday, June 25, against 51-year-old Donna Lee Warcholik.

According to a criminal complaint, around 10:15 a.m. on December 9, 2019, Emlenton Police were dispatched to a business in Emlenton for a report of a theft.

At the scene, police spoke to the owners of the business who advised they had an employee who they believed had been stealing from them over a period of six years, and provided police with documentation from the business.

According to the complaint, Donna Warcholik was employed by the business as a store manager, from January 14, 2013, to October 5, 2019, and was responsible for obtaining meat prizes from the store. As part of her duties, Warcholik was supposed to ring up the prizes through the cash register and pay for them before taking them to a known sportsman’s club, who would then reimburse her for the prizes. She was to obtain eleven $5 prizes for the weekly .22 shoots and eleven $15 prizes for the spring and fall shotgun shoots.

It was then brought to the owners’ attention during the summer of 2019 that not all of the meat prizes seemed to be rung up on the register, which caused them to look further into the transactions. During their investigation, they found that meat packages were not being paid for, and observed, through video surveillance, that Warcholik would throw the paper with the price tags into the trash rather than tallying them up.

Police then obtained a search warrant for financial records from the known sportsman’s club pertaining to all transactions and monies paid to Warcholik from January 2013 until October 2019.

According to the complaint, police were then able to confirm the total amount of meat prizes rung up for each shoot should have been approximately $165.00. Based on that information, each month was totaled for the approximate total cost of prizes received, the total monthly amount that was rung up at the business, and the difference between the two.

The complaint states the total amount lost due to Warcholik’s actions is $15,971.66.

According to the complaint, Warcholik has paid $10,000.00 in restitution.

The following charges were filed against Warcholik through Magisterial District Judge Patrick E. Lowrey’s office:

– Theft By Failure To Make Required Disposition of Funds, Felony 3
– Theft By Deception-False Impression, Felony 3
– Theft By Unlawful Taking-Movable Property, Felony 3
– Receiving Stolen Property, Felony 3

A preliminary hearing for the case has not yet been scheduled.