AZTEC, N.M. (AP) — A Farmington woman who works as a bookkeeper for two small businesses is accused of fraud and forgery.
San Juan County Sheriff's officials say 65-year-old Mary Hawkins is being held on 40 felony counts.
They say she allegedly wrote more than 220 fraudulent checks and embezzled more than $344,000 from the businesses over a 2 ½-year span beginning around July 2011.
The two businesses are owner by the same person.
A certified public accountant for one of the businesses recently noticed that numerous checks weren't authorized by the owner and were written out to Hawkins.
That began an investigation that ended with Hawkins booked into jail last week.
It was unclear yesterday if she has a lawyer yet.