Defendant pleads guilty to theft, 1 hour into jury trial in Highland County Common Pleas Court

One hour into a second jury trial for theft from a person in a protected class, a Seaman woman entered a guilty plea to an amended charge Tuesday morning in Highland County Common Pleas Court.

As previously reported, Lori K. Greene, 48, of Seaman was indicted by a Highland County grand jury in January, and then again in a superseding indictment in May, and charged with one count of aggravated theft from a person in a protected class, a second-degree felony. The indictment was actually amended again this month, after determining that due to a “typographical error,” the charge should have been classified as a first-degree felony instead of a second-degree felony.

On Aug. 13, Greene pleaded guilty to an amended charge of theft, a third-degree felony.

A jury was previously seated June 13, with the state presenting four witnesses, including the alleged victim in this case; a forensic accountant who helped investigate the victim’s accounts; and the two Highland County Sheriff’s Office detectives who investigated the case, Det. Sgt. Vincent Antinore and Det. Sgt. Erica Engle.

Greene also took the stand in her own defense June 13. After the first round of instructions and closing arguments, Coss dismissed the jury June 13 at 4 p.m., asking them to report back the morning of June 14. The jury received the case that morning shortly before 9 a.m.

Following three hours of deliberations, the jury “reported in writing that it was deadlocked,” according to Coss’ mistrial entry. He dismissed the jury for lunch at noon, then when they returned, he “gave an additional instruction regarding the possibility of reaching a verdict.”

An hour later, the jury was still unable to reach a verdict. Coss said that he met with attorneys for both sides, and they agreed with the court’s decision to “declare the jury deadlocked” and to order a mistrial. He scheduled a second jury trial for Aug. 13.

On Tuesday, Aug. 13, a jury was seated around 10 a.m., with initial instructions and opening statements beginning around 10:20 a.m. Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins explained the allegations of the case to the jury in her opening statement.

Collins told the jury that between bank transfers and credit card charges, Greene stole approximately $420,000 from a business owner, who is legally classified as “elderly.”  

The prosecutor said that Greene was hired in 2019 by a Highland County business owner to be the business’s bookkeeper at an agreed-upon rate of $1,000 per month. Her duties were to include paying taxes and bills, including writing checks for her own salary. Greene also had access to a business credit card.

According to Collins, in 2023, the business owner ended up “stranded” in another state because of a credit card being declined, with his bank advising he “didn’t have any money.”

The business owner asked a forensic accountant, Lindsay Bennett, to look into the accounts, and she found there was “a lot of money missing,” Collins said.

Bennett found various discrepancies, including that Greene had written $66,000 worth of checks to herself beyond the agreed-upon $12,000 per year salary; had paid for personal expenses, including her electric bill, using the business owner’s account; had opened a new business credit card without the business owner’s permission, in the same month the business owner canceled the one she had access to; and also used the business owner’s account to pay for her personal credit card bills in an amount close to $100,000.

The business owner contacted law enforcement, with detectives at the Highland County Sheriff’s Office finding a “lot of interesting charges” using the business accounts — including purchasing shoes, pantyhose and makeup, among other things, Collins said.

Collins said that the victim in this case did not catch the discrepancies because “he hires someone” to handle finances for him, as he “didn’t even know how to access his accounts.

“As long as he has money, he relies on the person he’s hired to keep things straight,” Collins said.

The prosecutor said that Greene is “crafty” and applied for a small business loan for the business through the government’s COVID relief program. They were awarded around $400,000, but Collins said that Greene “filtered” the money into her own accounts.

Greene’s attorney, Bruce Wallace, told the jury “there are competing stories as to what happened.” He said that Greene agreed that she had been hired “to take care of finances” for the business,  but the “evidence is conflicting as to what this grew into over this four- or five-year period.”

Wallace said the business owner contacted Greene “all hours of the day and night,” beyond a usual “9-5 setup.” He said their constant communication, plus “trips and vacations,” were “a tangled mess.

“Ms. Greene will dispute that she took money beyond what was authorized by [the business owner] in their conversations and in their repeated communications,” Wallace said.

Wallace added that “we may be rewriting history here” in “retroactively” classifying Greene’s actions as theft.

The business owner was the state’s first, and ultimately only, witness called Tuesday morning. The business owner said that Greene had worked for the company approximately five years, and that they had agreed that she could be paid $1,000 a month to provide bookkeeping services.

In April 2023, the business owner said that his cards started being declined, and he was also informed there had been issues with “bouncing checks.” When he contacted Greene, she “said payments crossed in the mail, some deposits didn’t get made,” the business owner said.

Collins also asked the business owner about the COVID money for the business. He said they were awarded approximately $400,000 in pandemic relief money, which was deposited into the  business bank account.

“Lori applied for it,” he said.

Collins asked if the money was described to him as a loan or a grant. The business owner said, “I was told both, that some of it was a loan and some of it was a grant.”

“Do you know what it is now?” Collins asked.

“It’s a loan now,” the business owner said.

“Are you repaying that money?” Collins asked.

“Yes, I am,” the business owner said. “It’s around $2,400 a month.”

The business owner said that when Greene began working for the company, the owner authorized her to open a business credit card. He later canceled it because there were “too many charges on it” for non-business-related purchases.

Collins asked if the business owner had given Greene permission to open a second card for the business, and the business owner said no. The business owner said that he also do not have an Amazon or PayPal account, nor did he authorize Greene to use the business card for either service.

Collins asked if the business owner had authorized Greene to use the company account to pay the electric bill for her home in Adams County. The business owner said she had permission to do so once, but Greene was supposed to pay the company back and didn’t “to my knowledge.”

In response to more questions from the prosecutor, the business owner denied allowing Greene to pay her personal credit card bills, to purchase plane tickets or to make payments to herself over $1,000 from the business account. The business owner added that Greene had been allowed to borrow money — approximately $2,000, which she also never paid back “to my knowledge,” he said.

Regarding Greene’s paychecks, the business owner denied allowing Greene to pay herself beyond the $1,000 a month salary, but he said that he would often sign checks in advance for Greene to fill out for various payments.

The business owner said he had not balanced a checkbook “since I was a teenager” and that Greene had access to “all the passwords” for his digital accounts. He said she also had her own phone number connected to the accounts, so he wasn’t able to log in, and he testified that no one else had access, either.

After Collins finished examining the victim, she and Wallace asked to approach the bench, after which Coss dismissed the jury for a break shortly before 11 a.m.

The court didn’t return on the record until 11:42 a.m. — without the jury — as Coss said he was told that the parties “wish to resolve this matter.”

It was stated that as agreed upon by the parties, Greene would be pleading guilty to theft, which was lowered from a first- to a third-degree felony by removing the classification that the victim is an elderly person.

As alleged in the revised charge, Greene pleaded guilty to “with purpose to deprive the owner of his property, knowingly obtaining or exerting control over … currency in the amount of approximately $312,066.53” between “Jan. 1, 2019 and continuing through Dec. 1, 2023, in Highland County and as a continuing course of criminal conduct in Adams County.”

Prior to accepting the plea, Coss explained Greene’s rights and the possible penalties, as well as reviewing the plea agreement. He said he wanted to ensure Greene entered the plea “without reservation.

“I don’t want you to come back later and say ‘well, I wish I hadn’t done that, I want to withdraw my plea,’” Coss told Greene. “We have a jury. We’re in the middle of a trial. You have that right to a trial, and we were going to go forward. If there’s any doubt in your mind at all, now is the time to tell me. I’m not going to listen to you come back here in three or four weeks and say, ‘well, I shouldn’t have done this.’

“I’m not going to listen to any second guessing. There’s no Monday morning quarterbacking. Now’s the time. If you want your trial, we’ll bring the jury back in, we’ll go forward. If you want to plead guilty, we’re not going to have a withdrawal of a guilty plea at a future hearing.”

The charge carries a potential prison term of nine to 36 months, the plea agreement says, although the state “will take no position as to sentencing.” However, as part of the agreement, Greene will forfeit her Seaman home to the victim “in order to satisfy restitution in full.”

After accepting Greene’s guilty plea, Coss brought the jury back at noon, apologizing for the approximate hourlong break and thanking them for their service before dismissing them. He explained that Greene had pleaded guilty “to a lesser offense, and therefore, you’re not going to need to decide this case.” The judge added that he “made an exception to normal policy and accepted the plea” due to “extenuating circumstances.”

A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 25 at 9:30 a.m.

Publisher's note: A free press is critical to having well-informed voters and citizens. While some news organizations opt for paid websites or costly paywalls, The Highland County Press has maintained a free newspaper and website for the last 25 years for our community. If you would like to contribute to this service, it would be greatly appreciated. Donations may be made to: The Highland County Press, P.O. Box 849, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133. Please include "for website" on the memo line.