Former bookkeeper for Kalispell firearms manufacturer stole $159,000

A former bookkeeper for a Kalispell firearms manufacturer admitted stealing $159,000 from her then-employer in a check scheme, spending the money in part on hotel stays in Las Vegas and Quinn’s Hot Springs.

Teri Anne Bell, 58, of Columbia Falls pleaded guilty in the U.S. District court in Missoula on Tuesday to wire fraud. She faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release, according to the Montana U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The government said Bell used pre-signed checks to steal from her employer from 2018 to 2021 while working as a finance manager for the firearm manufacturing and distribution company Falkor SID Inc.

The checks were given to Bell to make payments to the company’s vendors, and she also had access to the company’s bank account and accounting software, the government found.

“Bell wrote checks from Falkor to herself or her creditors and then edited the payments in an accounting system so that they appeared to be for legitimate business expenses,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

She spent the money on personal expenses including hotel stays in Las Vegas and Quinn’s Hot Springs outside Paradise, the government said, as well as retail and liquor store purchases, and payments to collection agencies and streaming services. Court documents did not specify which Last Vegas hotel Bell stayed in.

The company owner’s started to suspect Bell was stealing money in the fall of 2021 and conducted a financial audit and found Bell made 45 unauthorized transactions, stealing a total of just more than $159,000.

Bell was released pending further proceedings with sentencing set for Oct. 8.

Nicole Girten is a reporter for the Daily Montanan, a nonprofit newsroom.