Bookkeeper Found Guilty of Stealing Over $315K from Firm

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A jury has found a former bookkeeper guilty of stealing more than $315,000 from a Bloomington company.

47-year-old Laura Lee Scholz was convicted Monday on four counts of theft by swindle. She was accused of stealing the money between August 2011 and July 2013 from Service Quality Institute, a customer service consulting firm.

Prosecutors say Scholz began withdrawing cash from the business after being promoted to head bookkeeper in 2011. They say many of the transactions were for at least $1,000. She also was suspected of cashing checks made out to the company and keeping some or all of the money.

Her sentence hearing is scheduled for June.