Embezzler faces new felony bad-check charge

Already convicted of embezzling $67,000 from a Kalispell Christian radio station, a Flathead County woman now faces another felony charge and the dismissal of a plea agreement she signed last month.

Jessica McGee, 34, was arrested and released Tuesday after the County Attorney’s Office filed a charge accusing her of issuing bad checks even as her embezzlement case proceeded in District Court.

The former employee of Kalispell Christian Radio Fellowship — which owns and operates KALS 97.1 — admitted Sept. 2 to stealing thousands of dollars from the company where she worked as a bookkeeper from 2004 to 2009.

The admission came after the Flathead County Attorney’s Office offered a plea agreement that culminated in a reduced charge of theft, a felony common scheme.

A sentencing hearing was scheduled for Nov. 10 , and prosecutors were recommending a 10-year sentence with all but 14 days suspended.

The new felony charge likely will change that, according to Flathead County Attorney’s Office Administrator Vickie Eggum.

“Certainly it gives us an opportunity to get out of the plea agreement,” Eggum said.

McGee is accused of writing 10 checks without sufficient funds between July, 2009, and Aug. 27, 2010. The last bad check was passed just five days before she pleaded guilty to theft, and after plea-agreement negotiations had begun, according to court documents.

The amount of the bad checks is $537.

McGee is scheduled for an arraignment on the new charge Oct. 28. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 10 on the previous theft conviction, though Eggum said she could be sentenced in both cases at the same time.

The maximum sentence for theft by way of embezzlement is 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine, the same as the maximum sentence for issuing a bad check, a felony common scheme.