The former accountant for the Pine-Strawberry Water Improvement District, Rebecca Sigeti, of Payson, was sentenced to serve six years in prison followed by seven years of supervised probation for embezzling nearly $1 million.
Sigeti worked as an accountant and stole money from both of her employers, the Pine-Strawberry Water Improvement District and Sunny Mountain Realty over a six-year period, between August 1, 2010 and January 31, 2016.
According to the Arizona Attorney General’s office, Sigeti systematically embezzled $841,055 from the District and Sunny Mountain. To conceal her theft, Sigeti manipulated QuickBooks by not recording fraudulent checks or inaccurately recording fraudulent checks with fake payees. Sigeti issued another $408,922 in District checks to Sunny Mountain and deposited them into the Sunny Mountain account. She also issued $115,763 in District checks directly to herself or companies she controlled. Sigeti issued 32 forged District checks totaling $524,685.
After District checks were deposited into the Sunny Mountain account, Sigeti withdrew $725,292 in total funds by forging 200 Sunny Mountain checks. This includes $408,922 in District funds and an additional $316,370 of Sunny Mountain funds.
The case was investigated by the Arizona Auditor General’s Office.
Sigeti is also ordered to pay back $524,685 to the Pine-Strawberry Water Improvement District and $316,370 to Sunny Mountain Realty.