MONROE - The final witness to Joyce Ziehli's delayed preliminary trial, a Department of Criminal Investigations special agent, testified Wednesday to accusations that Ziehli embezzled more than $850,000 from the New Glarus Home.
Special agent Amy Lehmann has worked on financial crimes for 16 years for the Department of Justice and was called in by New Glarus police to help investigate claims that Ziehli had made out checks payable to cash or in her name using the home's money. Lehmann's investigation was scrutinized by District Attorney Gary Luhman and Ziehli's attorney Robert Duxstad.
Luhman had Lehmann enumerate checks made out to cash from a resident account at the home, and cash deposits to Ziehli's personal bank account over a 10-year period from 2003 to 2013. The checks cashed in either Ziehli's name or made out to cash either closely or exactly matched the deposits into Ziehli's bank account. Some of the cash deposits into her account were made the same day a check was allegedly forged.
Ziehli, 55, Belleville, appeared in court Wednesday, to finish up a preliminary hearing that had stretched on past its scheduled time on June 11. She worked at the home for 31 years, employed in the capacity of an administrative secretary until she was fired on Jan. 28, 2013.
There was some contention about the statute of limitations in this case because the D.A. did not have accurate documents for bank accounts and the resident account from 2003 to 2006. Duxstad contested the first of Ziehli's six Class G felony counts of theft of more than $10,000 in a business setting, arguing there was not sufficient evidence to give probable cause that a crime occurred in that three-year period.
Duxstad asked Lehmann if she had any evidence to suggest that Ziehli had committed a crime in that three-year period, to which she replied, "I do not have the supporting documentation."
In his closing argument Duxstad said Lehmann's report neglected to show how Ziehli allegedly spent the money she embezzled and greatly exaggerated the amount allegedly taken.
"I would like to give the benefit of doubt to miss Lehmann, but her crude analysis cannot show that my client received any of these funds," he said.
Judge Thomas Vale bound over all six of Ziehli's counts for an arraignment hearing set for July 15, but he said the D.A. needed more evidence to include the disputed three-year period in Ziehli's charges.
"I have some reservations to charges going back before 2007, and I will leave it up to the D.A. to examine testimony and evidence to justify this count," Vale said.
Special agent Amy Lehmann has worked on financial crimes for 16 years for the Department of Justice and was called in by New Glarus police to help investigate claims that Ziehli had made out checks payable to cash or in her name using the home's money. Lehmann's investigation was scrutinized by District Attorney Gary Luhman and Ziehli's attorney Robert Duxstad.
Luhman had Lehmann enumerate checks made out to cash from a resident account at the home, and cash deposits to Ziehli's personal bank account over a 10-year period from 2003 to 2013. The checks cashed in either Ziehli's name or made out to cash either closely or exactly matched the deposits into Ziehli's bank account. Some of the cash deposits into her account were made the same day a check was allegedly forged.
Ziehli, 55, Belleville, appeared in court Wednesday, to finish up a preliminary hearing that had stretched on past its scheduled time on June 11. She worked at the home for 31 years, employed in the capacity of an administrative secretary until she was fired on Jan. 28, 2013.
There was some contention about the statute of limitations in this case because the D.A. did not have accurate documents for bank accounts and the resident account from 2003 to 2006. Duxstad contested the first of Ziehli's six Class G felony counts of theft of more than $10,000 in a business setting, arguing there was not sufficient evidence to give probable cause that a crime occurred in that three-year period.
Duxstad asked Lehmann if she had any evidence to suggest that Ziehli had committed a crime in that three-year period, to which she replied, "I do not have the supporting documentation."
In his closing argument Duxstad said Lehmann's report neglected to show how Ziehli allegedly spent the money she embezzled and greatly exaggerated the amount allegedly taken.
"I would like to give the benefit of doubt to miss Lehmann, but her crude analysis cannot show that my client received any of these funds," he said.
Judge Thomas Vale bound over all six of Ziehli's counts for an arraignment hearing set for July 15, but he said the D.A. needed more evidence to include the disputed three-year period in Ziehli's charges.
"I have some reservations to charges going back before 2007, and I will leave it up to the D.A. to examine testimony and evidence to justify this count," Vale said.