Trenton woman pleads guilty to aggravated theft of over $2 million
Warren County Prosecutor David P. Fornshell announced that Alisha King, 39, of Trenton pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated theft (F2), two counts of telecommunications fraud (F1 and F2) and one count of forgery (F4) in Warren County Common Pleas Court.
King was sentenced to an indefinite term of 10-15 years in prison with no opportunity for judicial (early) release, and she was ordered to pay restitution.
Between Aug. 22, 2018 and Nov. 30, 2023, in the course of her employment as a bookkeeper for an outdoor lighting company headquartered in Middletown, King stole money from two franchisees by forging checks payable to herself and through unauthorized credit card transactions. The victim franchisees are in South Carolina and Tennessee. Both victims used King’s bookkeeping services as a part of their franchise agreements. The collective amount of theft from both victims totaled $2,025,776.96.
On Nov. 27, 2023, an employee with the outdoor lighting company discovered a check on King’s desk, made out to herself in the amount of $2,000 ,from the business checking account of the South Carolina franchise. The check was not authorized by any principal of the South Carolina business. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that between Jan. 1, 2023 and Nov. 30, 2023, King used her access to the South Carolina’s franchise’s business checking account to initiate online bill payments to send unauthorized checks to herself totaling $92,350.
Upon further investigation, Middletown police discovered that between 2018 and 2023, King also used her access to the business credit card account issued to the Tennessee franchise to make unauthorized personal purchases via online payment and shopping sites, and to pay interest accrued on the credit card, all of which totaled $750,727.45.
Middletown police further discovered that during that time period, King used her access to the South Carolina franchise’s business checking account to initiate bank transfers to make payments to the Tennessee franchise’s credit card, totaling $1,182,699.51.
In addition to over $92,000 in forged checks to herself, King purchased a number of personal items including concert tickets, apparel, beauty products, kitchen products, boating items, rent payments and personal bills. Specifically, she purchased gift cards; a designer bag, apparel and shoes; an electric guitar; a smartwatch; a vacuum; and countless other items.
All totaled, King made approximately $396,000 in purchases on one payment app, $88,000 in transactions on another payment app, $198,000 in purchases on one online store and $66,000 in credit card interest. All of these purchases were done through the unauthorized use of a credit card, then utilizing the victims’ business checking accounts to pay off the balances on the unauthorized credit card.
“This is the most sizeable internal theft case that our office has prosecuted since I became Warren County Prosecutor,” said Fornshell. “Although King was ordered to pay restitution, given the dollars involved, King could work the rest of her life and not make a dent in what she stole from these victims. For those who say that non-violent offenders should not go to prison, Exhibit 1 against that argument is Alisha King.”
Fornshell commended Middletown Police Detectives Connor Kirby and Kristi Hughes, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation Forensic Accountant Robert Holdren, Assistant Prosecutors Kathryn M. Horvath and Jennifer A. Nicholson, Victim Witness Coordinator Melissa Kennard and Director of Legal Support Sidney Logsdon for their work on the case.