Evington woman pleads guilty to stealing from man whom she provided care

By Cynthia Pegram

Published: October 27, 2008

An Evington woman pleaded guilty in Lynchburg Circuit Court on Monday to the theft of about $3,300 from two checking accounts of an elderly man for whom she provided care.

Sarah Angela Oulds, 23, could face as much as 10 years on each of 12 charges — six for forgery, and six for using the forged checks to obtain the money.

By pleading guilty, Oulds waived her right to a jury trial.

According to evidence presented in court before Judge J. Leyburn Mosby Jr., Oulds was a medical assistant working for Valley View Retirement Community in Lynchburg.

Also according to the evidence presented by Gretchen Hutt, assistant commonwealth attorney, the victim had two checkbooks, one on a trust account and one a personal checking account, and was the only person authorized to write checks on either account. Over a period of about six months, Oulds wrote most of the checks in amounts of about $500.

When investigators began looking into the forgeries, they were able to obtain security video from a bank drive-through and identify Oulds. The checks were cashed at two Lynchburg banks, Hutt said.

Oulds told investigators she used the money to pay bills and to purchase birthday and Christmas presents.

Mosby asked for a pre-sentencing report, and set the sentencing for Jan. 9.