Bookkeeper arrested in $1 million embezzlement

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A woman who for a generation kept books for an Austin family apologized before being sentenced to a year in prison for embezzlement.

James Shipwash for the more than 30 years owned Austin Apartment Washer Service and treated bookkeeper 69-year-old Mary Henke Geiger of Salado (suh-LAY'-doh) like family.

Problems arose in 2006 when Shipwash reviewed the books for the potential sale of the business. Prosecutors say Geiger, who had worked for the family since the 1970s, had been stealing from the company.

Geiger on Thursday was sentenced after pleading guilty in September to one count of bank fraud. Geiger acknowledged stealing $1 million from the company from 1998 to mid-2006 by writing unauthorized checks to herself, relatives and others associated with her.

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Information from: Austin American-Statesman,

http://www.statesman.com

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)