A woman who handled funds for the Flinthills Senior Life Fair waived her right to a preliminary hearing on forgery charges during a session Monday afternoon in Lyon County District Court.
Reita Cole Kelly of Chanute was charged in March with six counts of forgery in connection with about 25 unauthorized checks she allegedly wrote to herself on the Flinthills Senior Life Fair account.
She also is accused of taking money from several Life Fair deposits. Kelly was treasurer of the multicounty organization.
District Magistrate Judge John Conklin accepted the waiver and set 10 a.m. on Aug. 30 as the next hearing date in the case.
Life Fair officials told law enforcement officers that the loss amounted to more than $12,000, according to an affidavit filed in the case. The six forgery charges include $4,400 in losses.
Vicki L. Brooks, a board member of Life Fair, Lyon County Council on Aging, reported the discrepancies after she was notified by Emporia State Bank that the Life Fair account had insufficient funds to cover a check.
“(U)pon examining the account, she learned there were several unauthorized checks which her signature had been forged as a maker’s signature,” according to the affidavit. “Further investigation revealed that a second signature of Kennedy D. Hanson ... had also been forged on numerous checks.”
Brooks and Hanson reported that Kelly was never authorized to write any checks listing herself as a payee and that their signatures had been forged. Brooks and Hanson were authorized to sign checks.
Brooks also reported that Reita Kelly deposited a personal check for $2,000 from Kelly’s personal account into the Life Fair account.
“Brooks reports this may have been an attempt to cover some of the loss or pay back some of the stolen money...,” according to the affidavit.
The affidavit also states that Kelly told Emporia police officer Bill Ross that her husband had lost his job and was unable to work and that later her 21-year-old son had been injured and had medical bills that complicated Kelly’s financial situation.
“Kelly explained she was overwhelmed by household financial bills,” the affidavit stated.
Kelly borrowed money from an Internet loan service and the loans’ high interest rates put her further into debt, the affidavit said.