CHESAPEAKE
A 47-year-old Moyock, N.C. woman pleaded guilty Monday to being an accessory after the fact to six misdemeanor counts of credit card fraud at American Gold Martial Arts Center in Greenbrier.
Sharon Thornton, a volunteer operator of the non profit martial arts studio, had been scheduled to stand trial today in Chesapeake Circuit Court on 18 felony counts involving credit card fraud, credit card theft and credit card forgery. In a plea agreement, all 18 felony charges were withdrawn against Thornton in return for her pleas to six misdemeanors.
Thornton was sentenced to 12 months in jail on each misdemeanor, with all time suspended on the condition that she remain on good behavior for three years while on probation, according to Sarah Kotarides, a special prosecutor from Norfolk.
The specific offense involved forged credit card slips totalling $8,270 for after-school and summer camp tuition for a customer's son, Kotarides said. At the time the credit card slips were signed, the child was no longer attending American Gold Martial Arts Center, and his father denies signing the slips.
It was one case in an embezzlement scheme involving a former bookkeeper, Thornton has argued.
Thornton said a bookkeeper, a woman now deceased, confessed to overcharging customer credit cards to cover up about $125,000 in funds being embezzled from the martial arts studio. The bookkeeper, when confronted, offered to repay the money with payments of $3,000 a month, Thornton said Monday.
During pretrial hearings, Thornton's attorney, Deputy Public Defender A. Robinson Winn produced witnesses who testified that they overheard the bookkeeper confess in November 2006, about two weeks before her death.
Thornton said her only crime - accessory after the fact - was for failing to turn in the employee.
"I did not call and report her and turn her in," she said. "But to our knowledge, at the time, no one had lost money except for the school."
John Hopkins, (757) 222-5221, john.hopkins@pilotonline.com
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