MYNORTHWEST NEWS

Bellingham Police arrest woman in $1.4 million embezzlement case

Jan 3, 2023, 11:02 AM | Updated: 11:38 am

A photo of the Bellingham Police Department...

A photo of the Bellingham Police Department (Photo courtesy of the City of Bellingham)

(Photo courtesy of the City of Bellingham)

Bellingham Police have arrested a 44-year-old woman accused of embezzling $1.4 million from a local home improvement store.

Amy D. Siniscarco, an assistant manager at Hardware Sales in Bellingham, Wash., is thought to have stolen funds from the business over the course of several years.

Police had been investigating a report of embezzlement since Aug. 2022.

On Monday, Jan 2., the suspect turned herself in and was booked in the Whatcom County Jail for seven counts of first-degree theft, five counts of identity theft, and 13 counts of forgery.

Contractor accused of stealing $54K in workers comp scam

During their investigation, Bellingham detectives worked to identify the multiple ways in which Siniscarco took money from Hardware Sales and manipulated the accounting system and ledger to cover up and hide the thefts. They found that Siniscarco used forged checks, mortgage direct payments, credit card fraud, petty cash theft, and a number of other ways to steal company funds.

There were over 190 transactions made for a total loss of at least $1,424,696.31 from 2017 to the present. There is evidence of financial loss to Hardware Sales by Siniscarco as far back as 2014.

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Bellingham Police arrest woman in $1.4 million embezzlement case