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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 19, 2002
CLEARWATER -- Five years ago, police arrested Kathleen Eigenhouse and charged that she stole $90,000 from a Clearwater medical office where she had worked as office manager.
Accusing her of writing checks from the office of Bennett, Johnson and Savel to herself to pay her personal bills, police booked her on a grand theft charge.
She pleaded no contest to the charge and was sentenced to 15 years of probation. She also was ordered to repay the medical office.
At the time of that arrest, Eigenhouse was working for another medical office, Forme Neck and Back Rehab Center. Later, she worked as an office manager for Bay Area Chest Physicians in Clearwater.
Thursday, Clearwater police again arrested Eigenhouse, this time accusing her of stealing more than $158,000 from Bay Area Chest Physicians.
Police said she wrote checks to herself, misrepresented her salary and gave herself bogus bonuses.
She was charged with scheming to defraud. She posted $50,000 bail and was released from Pinellas County Jail early Friday. She could not be reached for comment Friday.
Currently, Eigenhouse, a Seminole resident, is working for another medical office, though it was unknown if there were any thefts reported from that office, police said.
Officials from Bay Area Chest Physicians could not be reached for comment Friday, and it could not be determined if they knew of Eigenhouse's grand theft arrest from 1997.
"It's always a smart thing to have the checks and balances in the office," said Sgt. George Koder of the Clearwater Police Department. "Either it should be an independent accounting firm or accountant that looks at the books; or have a partnership in the office so there isn't any sole access to checks and to the funds."
Police said Eigenhouse stole from Bay Area Chest Physicians from December 1999 to March of this year. To conceal that she was writing checks to herself, Eigenhouse entered fake vendor names into the office's ledger, an arrest report states.
"On the books it appeared to be to other vendors, when in fact she was actually cashing the checks," Koder said. "In the record-keeping, she was making it look like they were legitimate purchases."
An accounting firm noticed inconsistencies in the books, then it did an audit and discovered the thefts. The office reported the thefts to police. Fraud and theft Detective Mark Weaver investigated the case and arrested Eigenhouse on Thursday evening.
According to an arrest report, Eigenhouse admitted stealing $139,212 of the $158,150 police accused her of stealing.
-- Chris Tisch can be reached at 445-4156 or tisch@sptimes.com.