A woman was charged by the Racine County District Attorney’s Office with felony counts of theft for taking over $260,000 from her boss, the owner of Racine-based Ace Stamping & Machine Co., 2801 S. Memorial  Dr., according to a criminal complaint.
Tiffany Cain, 39, of Salem, was charged with seven counts of felony theft-moveable property. If convicted, she faces up to 70 years in prison and/or fined up to $175,000.
During an initial hearing held Wednesday, Feb. 11, Racine County court commissioner Alice Rudebusch set a cash bond for $2,500.
According to the criminal complaint, Cain worked for Ace Stamping & Machine for 15 years as an assistant to the man. Tasked with managing his personal checking account, Cain wrote checks to herself and her husband for eight years starting in 2007 from the man’s account. Cain told the company’s accountant how much she needed for the man’s personal bills, but Cain would inflate the amount needed to “cover her illegal activities” and write checks out of the personal account to herself.
But in May 2013, the man allowed Cain to write a check to herself for $250 since she was going to Las Vegas, but the check bounced and a bank employee called the company accountant since Cain was out-of-town. The check was written for $2,500.
Cain told the man that she had made a mistake and she would pay the money back. He put all of his checks into a locked area where the company accountant kept control of them. The accountant then noticed in January 2014 that a check was missing and the bank noted that Cain wrote the check out for $1,750. Cain told the company that she took and cashed the check, and she was no longer allowed access to the checks, according to the criminal complaint.
The accountant then told the business owner in June to check his credit card statements and noticed that a number of charges had been made from a gas station that he had never been to. Cain then admitted to using the credit card and she was fired from the company.
The man told police he considered Cain “a trusted employee and friend.”
Cain is expected to have a preliminary hearing at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 25.