The Williamsburg-James City County Courthouse
A 35-year-old Maryland woman who until last August worked as the sales manager at a store selling Sprint mobile phones on Monticello Avenue in James City County was found guilty Wednesday of embezzling about $2,500 from the store.
Karen Lynn Zengler pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of embezzlement, one of which was later dismissed by Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court Judge Michael McGinty. He found her guilty of the second charge after listening to testimony from Zengler and other employees of both the store and the company that operates the store, Adcomm Digitel.
A member of Adcomm Digitel’s finance department testified sales managers at company stores are required to submit daily verification of cash deposits. She said she did not receive verifications from Zengler for Aug. 1 and 2, totaling $2,588.78.
She said she asked Zengler to fax the deposit slips to prove the money was deposited and that Zengler told her she had already done so. She then asked for Zengler to take pictures of the deposit slips and send those to the finance department.
Eventually Regional Sales Manager Vicki Sowers got involved. Sowers testified she asked Zengler via phone to send the deposits on Aug. 12, at which point Zengler told her she would send them as soon as they hung up. After numerous phone calls without an answer, Sowers called the store directly to learn Zengler had clocked out and left.
Zengler never returned to work, Sowers said. She did not answer a voicemail Sowers said she left later that day telling Zengler she would call the police if she did not hear back from her within 30 minutes.
The next day, Sowers said she searched for the deposit slips at the store and did not find them.
Zengler testified she left the area to attend a friend’s birthday party Aug. 1 and did not return until Aug. 5. She said she took the deposit bag from the store and brought it to a nearby Wells Fargo and she assumed everything was in place after making the deposit.
She said when confronted about the missing deposit receipts, she assumed someone else had made them while she was gone and that she lied to the finance department because she thought she could find the receipts in the store.
Zengler then said her father was in a car accident around the time, causing her to miss significant time at work so she could attend to him in Maryland. She said that on Aug. 12, when Sowers was trying to reach her, she received news her father had taken a turn for the worse.
She told the court she left the store shortly after noon, drove home, picked up her kids and husband from an apartment in York County and drove to Maryland. She said she never returned to the apartment because she was too overcome with grief at her father’s death, which she said occurred before she was able to get back to Maryland. She said all of her possessions were eventually thrown out by the landlord.
Williamsburg-James City County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Cathy Black asked Zengler why she told the finance department and Sowers she had faxed the deposits when she had not, Zengler said she was under a great deal of stress due to her father’s condition.
“I was just trying to get them off my back to focus on my dad,” Zengler said. “That’s why I said I made the deposits.”
Zengler’s attorney, Joshua Goff, said there was no direct evidence connecting Zengler to the missing money. He pointed to testimony from Adcomm Digitel employees who said everyone in the store had access to the area where the money was stored, a lack of video evidence from the store’s video surveillance system and no evidence Zengler had used the money.
McGinty said the case was a matter of credibility and he was not satisfied with Zengler’s explanation of what happened.
“I find her to not be credible when she says she knows nothing about those monies,” McGinty said. He also said he found her story about leaving the apartment and not coming back to be unusual.
Zengler will be sentenced Sept. 3.