A Jim Thorpe woman has been charged with stealing over $100,000 from her employer.

State police at Lehighton said Jane Leslie, 58, of Leisure Lane, has been charged with forgery - unauthorized act in writing, theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception - false impression and receiving stolen property. All the counts are felony 2s.

The criminal complaint identifies the lost amount as being $127,271.61.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by Troopers Ryan English and Daniel K. Magarelli, on July 2 Dr. Edward D. Manzella went to the state police barracks to report that his bookkeeper, Leslie, has been embezzling funds from the Manzella Family Healthcare in Penn Forest Township.

He said that on June 19, the office manager discovered fraudulently documented checks in the ledger of the practices’ QuickBooks system. She observed a check was documented in QuickBooks as going to a medical supplier, but upon further inspection, it was discovered that the check was written out to Leslie.

Dr. Edward Manzella then contacted his accountant who conducted an audit of the QuickBooks system. He discovered dozens of fraudulent transactions from 2016 to July 2021. The accountant provided state police with a copy of all the fraudulent transactions which totaled $127,271.61.

Dr. Manzella and Dr. Victor P. Manzella, both said they never gave Leslie authorization to issue checks to herself.

Leslie was interviewed by troopers on July 11. After being told she was not under arrest and could leave the interview at any time she agreed to speak with the officers.

She told the officers she had been employed at the medical facility since 2015 as bookkeeper. She related she was having financial difficulties in her own personal life. She related she was “over her head” in credit card debt due to an addiction of purchasing items.

She further told the troopers she would document in the QuickBooks ledger that the checks were going to legitimate companies that Manzella Family Healthcare would do business with, but the checks would really be addressed to herself. She said she would routinely forged Dr. Victor P. Manzella signature on the checks and then would deposit the checks into her personal bank accounts in person or by mobile deposit.

She declined to further go over all the fraudulent transactions stating there were too many to review. She admitted that she personally committed all the forgeries and unlawful transactions. Troopers noted during the interview Leslie repeatedly expressed remorse for what she did.

She was arraigned on the charges on Aug. 17 by District Judge William Kissner, of Palmerton, and released on $5,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. on Sept. 1.