A Cheyenne woman has been charged in federal court in Cheyenne with embezzling a quarter of million dollars from the Cheyenne Little Theatre.

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Carissa [some media outlets report that her name should be spelled "Carrisa"] J. Dunn-Pollard worked as a bookkeeper for the theatre from 2016 until earlier this year.

According to the complaint filed in the case, an investigation was launched in May of this year when Theatre representatives reported to law enforcement that they had noticed several unusual transfers of funds between September 20, 2020, and May 2022. They suspected Dunn-Pollard of stealing at least $255,000, which is the amount cited in the affidavit.

The transfers were both between Little Theatre bank accounts and the organization's general fund to an unknown bank account. The complaint, an affidavit written by  U.S. Secret Service agent Russell Sparks, says that speaks found the unknown bank account to have been a First Interstate Bank account belonging to Dunn-Pollard and her husband. The document states that between May 23, 2019, and May 27, 2022, numerous ''payroll deposits" were made from Little Theatre funds to the Dunn-Pollard account.

The complaint says the deposits were always in round numbers, ranging from $300 to $6,000. It also says that on several occasions, large electronic "payroll deposits" were made two or three days in a row. The document charges her with five counts of wire fraud.

According to the affidavit, the deposits were not authorized by anyone with the Theatre or its Board of Directors. The document says that when management asked to access the Theatre Quickbooks account, starting in January 2022, they were ''met with delay tactics from Dunn-Pollard ranging from out-of-state travel to inability to gain access to the Theater's account."

In March, the document says Dunn-Pollard, in an email, told management, "I have my own Quickbooks account that I log into your account as the bookkeeper so I can do the reconciliations." The charging document says that Theatre officials believe that Dunn Pollard falsified payroll amounts to help hide her scheme.

On another occasion, she allegedly wrote in an email that her Quickbooks file was corrupted and that three of her accounts had scrambled together with the theatre account.

Each of the five counts of wire fraud carries a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted on all charges, she could get up to 100 years in prison and fines of up to $1,250,000.

The charges were filed on November 22.

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