Former VFW bartender pleads guilty to theft

BY STACI WILSON

The former bartender at Lenox VFW Post pleaded guilty to a felony count of theft Friday in Susquehanna County Court.

Rosemary Griffis, 45, of Nicholson, admitted to taking $18,500 from the VFW Post 8488 over a 10-month period of time, Dec. 2010 –Sept. 2011.

The count carries a maximum sentence of up to seven years in prison. But Griffis is not likely to face jail time as long as she makes restitution to the VFW, District Attorney Jason Legg said after Griffis waived her January preliminary hearing in Clifford District Court.

Griffis is scheduled to be sentenced by President Judge Kenneth Seamans on June 21.

In court Friday, Legg said Griffis wrote out checks to “cash” from the VFW bank account and kept the money for her personal use. According to Legg, blank checks in the VFW banking book had been pre-signed.

The theft was discovered by a VFW member who thought the account balance was lower than it should be, Legg told the court.

Griffis was a 19-year employee at the post with multiple job roles including co-manager, bartender and bookkeeper. She is no longer employed at the VFW, said her attorney, Mark Darmofal, who is working with the public defender’s office on the Griffis case.

 

 

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