Tim Ryan, tryan@shawanoleader.com
A former Gillett woman was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for embezzling nearly $300,000 from Reinhart Foods to support what she said was a gambling addiction.
Barbara J. Wawrzyn, 61, will also have to serve another five years extended supervision after her prison sentence.
Wawrzyn pleaded no contest in October to seven felony counts of theft from a business. Four other counts were dismissed under the plea agreement.
Wawrzyn was a credit manager for the company when the crimes occurred between December 2009 and October 2010.
An investigation and company audit ultimately found $290,994 that was missing or unaccounted for.
“This is one of the more serious financial crime cases we’ve seen in this county,” said Shawano-Menominee County District Attorney Greg Parker during the sentencing hearing.
The court heard from company officials and two of Wawrzyn’s former fellow employees.
“Integrity is a hallmark of how Reinhart’s owners conduct business,” said Grace Schaff, vice president and general counsel for the company. “Barb Wawrzyn betrayed the values of our owners and the Reinhart organization over and over again.”
President and Chief Operating Officer Boyd Johnson told the court that Wawrzyn not only damaged the company financially, but caused jobs to be lost.
Reinhart centralized all of its financial operations in one location after the embezzlement incident, resulting in layoffs for people who had those duties at the company’s various divisions.
Sherry Raddant and Kathy Collins, both of whom worked under Wawrzyn in the Shawano division, were among those who lost their jobs.
Raddant said Wawrzyn needed to be held responsible for her crimes.
“She is not a victim. She did this,” Raddant said.
The court also heard from Sheila Gohr, a counselor at Bellin Health, who testified for the defense about Wawrzyn’s anxiety, depression and gambling addiction.
Wawrzyn’s attorney, Robert Sweeney, said the issue for the court in sentencing was really about “how we treat people in this community with a gambling addiction.”
Sweeney partly blamed the increasing prevalence of gaming in Wisconsin for Wawrzyn’s crimes.
“This is a hidden cost of what happens in the casinos,” he said, adding that Wawrzyn didn’t keep what she embezzled. “The casinos got the money.”
Wawrzyn apologized to the company, former co-workers, family and friends in her statement to the court.
“I am addicted to gambling,” she said. “It got to the point where I forgot about everything else.”
In passing sentence, Judge James Habeck said Wawrzyn was “100 percent to blame” for her actions. He also noted that Wawrzyn had never offered a confession during the investigation into her crimes, instead offering “multiple false stores” to cover up.
“Judge Habeck handed down a sentence that showed justice in my mind,” Parker said.
Company officials became suspicious in October 2010 about missing and late deposits from the Shawano and Marquette divisions of Reinhart Foods, according to the criminal complaint. Wawrzyn was credit manager for both divisions.
In emails between Wawrzyn and a Reinhart accountant during the summer of 2010, Wawrzyn gave a number of excuses for not promptly depositing the money, including vacation, picking up her grandchildren from day care and other family related concerns, according to the complaint.
Wawrzyn told company officials and Shawano police that the money had been stolen from the back seat of her car before she had a chance to deposit it.