Embezzler Sentenced

After embezzling in excess of $26,000, a Guymon woman already on probation for a prior embezzlement case in which she stole over $50,000 from DHS, was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison.

In report from the Guymon Daily Herald,according to the Beaver County Court Clerk’s Office, Selene San Juana Belden, 36, of Guymon, was working for Sand Creek Pipeline Construction Co. out of Turpin. After an extended period of employment, it was noticed by other employees that many unauthorized transactions had been made by Belden. Checks were written to people and places that Sand Creek does not conduct business with and also there were missing bank statement pages. Later the owner and other employees went to the bank to obtain bank statements, upon receiving the statements, they found unauthorized transactions that were signed by Belden that had been put on the signature card.

They found 20 checks written by Belden that did not coincide with payroll dates, in other words, extra paychecks totaling $17,870.06. They discovered 16 checks to Wal-Mart in Guymon signed by Belden, totaling $3,896.99. No one in the company was authorized to make purchases from the Guymon Wal-Mart. They also found seven checks to various places and people allegedly written by Belden, totaling $2,440.22. There were more unauthorized purchases not mentioned. The final total tallied up to $26,630.17. The affidavit goes on to report that all of the unauthorized checks that were written by Selene Belden were written on Sand Creek Pipelines account that is with the Bank of Beaver City, Turpin Branch in Beaver County, Okla.

Belden’s record shows a prior felony conviction for computer fraud, 10 counts, out of Texas County in 2005. She pleaded guilty in the present case to one count of embezzlement after a former felony conviction on Aug. 24, 2009, and received a 10 year sentence.

According to the judgement and sentence affidavit issued by the Beaver County Court Clerk’s Office, the defendant is sentenced to a term of 20 years in the state penitentiary under the custody and control of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, with all suspended except the first six years pursuant to the rules and conditions of probation entered by the court, with credit for time served.

The report goes on to say that Belden must pay $29,000 in restitution to the District Attorney’s Office.