An Atmore woman, charged with embezzling a “significant amount” of money from a local realtor whose office she managed, was rearrested recently when she failed to appear in court for a hearing on the case.
District Attorney Steve Billy had not returned by Tuesday’s press deadline several calls seeking details of the re-arrest, but Escambia County Detention Center records show that Jaime LeAnne McCoy, 34, was charged with failure to appear after neither she nor her attorney showed up for the court proceeding.
McCoy, who was free on $10,000 bond after her June 1 arrest on one count of theft of property in the first degree, was reportedly released shortly after her second arrest.
The local woman, who most recently worked as office manager at Reynolds Real Estate, is accused of drawing checks payable to herself on the realty firm’s bank account. Atmore Police Chief Chuck Brooks would neither confirm nor deny reports that the white collar crime netted McCoy more than $30,000.
“We were contacted by a local real estate company that had some concerns about an employee who was suspected of misappropriating some funds,” Brooks said shortly after the arrest. “We obtained the firm’s financial documents, and when our investigators had looked at those, they made contact with the suspect at her work place and asked her to come in and answer some questions. We interviewed her, and after the interview she was arrested and charged with theft-first.”
Under state law, the theft of property valued at more than $2,500 puts the crime in the first-degree classification.
Brooks wouldn’t divulge any other details of the embezzlement, except that it did not involve any money belonging to the firm’s clients.
McCoy and Reynolds worked together for several years at Atmore Realty before Reynolds hung her shingle out last year and brought McCoy with her to manage her office.