Woman pleads guilty to embezzling nearly $60,000 from doctor, son also charged
April 2021 • ZANESVILLE, OH – A former office manager who is accused of embezzling nearly $60,000 from a Zanesville dermatologist pleaded guilty Tuesday morning.
Attorneys are recommending 49-year-old Trisha Wyer of Philo be sentenced to community control and pay $12,000 in restitution as punishment.
According to Assistant Prosecutor John Litle, Wyer quit her job working in 2017 when the office’s accounting firm noticed an irregularity and began to investigate.
Litle said Wyer quit showing up to work after she was questioned.
For the next six months, an internal investigation continued.
According to Litle, Wyer took with her the passwords to the accounts and would not cooperate with the office to return that information, thus hindering their investigation.
In January 2018, the case was reported to police.
Detective Bryan Ruff would spend the next couple of years following the money trail.
“It took me about two years, and I couldn’t even tell you the amount of man hours,” Ruff said after the hearing.
His investigation began with following office business card transactions, which led into falsified checks.
“It was an investigation that led me all over the state tracking down receipts,” he said. “I went to Westerville, I went to Heath, I went to Canton, I went to Akron, I went to Twinsburg. If I could have, I would have went to Florida tracking down receipts because there were transactions down there.”
The culmination of expenditures filled a three-ring binder that had to be special-ordered to hold all the contents, plus an additional binder for excess documents.
It was discovered that Wyer had used the office PNC bank card and Sam’s Club card to make unauthorized purchases on items such as food, alcohol, clothing, toiletries and several iPads.
Money was spent online through Amazon and at Best Buy.
According to Litle, Wyer also allowed her 24-year-old son, Dakota Wyer, to use the card to make purchases while he was in college in Akron.
He has also been indicted and faces a pending fifth-degree felony charge of telecommunications fraud.
Litle said Wyer wrote herself bonuses, gave herself free health insurance through the office, paid herself for hours she didn’t work and filled out checks for herself and family members that were unjustified.
Additionally, he said she stole $13,000 from the cash drawer.
“The list of fraudulent transactions goes on at length, totaling just under $59,000,” Litle said in court.
Wyer will be sentenced at a later date. Her son’s case is still pending in court.
