PORT ANGELES — After deliberating just four hours, a jury this afternoon found former Clallam County Treasurer’s Office cashier Catherine Betts guilty of all charges in the theft of at least $617,467 in public money.
The 47-year-old former Port Angeles resident was found guilty of first-degree theft, money laundering and 19 counts of filing false or fraudulent tax returns in the theft of between $617,467 and 793,595 in public money — from the Treasurer’s Office cash drawer — between 2003 and 2009, when the theft was first discovered.
Betts, who now lives in Shelton, was immediately handcuffed and wheeled away into custody in her wheelchair after Superior Court Judge Brooke Taylor set bail at $100,000 and a sentencing hearing for 9 a.m. Aug. 24.
She faces 43 months to 21 years in prison, said Scott Marlow, the assistant state attorney general and white-collar-crime specialist who prosecuted the case.
Betts had been on her own recognizance since her arrest in June 2009.
Her lawyers, Harry Gasnick and Loren Oakley of Clallam-Jefferson Public Defenders, said an appeal would be filed.
Betts was the only witness for the defense in the 1½-week trial.
Gasnick had argued that too many people in the Treasurer’s Office could have employed the checks-for-cash scheme that was at the heart of the fraud scheme, while Marlow said the transactions were directly traceable to Betts and that cash deposits to her account made her culpable for the crimes.
