Misplaced trust

An office manager/bookkeeper and her alleged cohorts are facing 54 felony counts in McClain County District Court in connection with more than 1,100 fraudulent transactions totaling in excess of $700,000.

Held on bonds of $200,000 each after their arrests August 24 are Linda Elliott, 54; Keith Elliott, 53; Sheila Railback, 51, and Tatiana Railback, 38.

The four were arrested by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation which was called in on the case in February 2021 by the McClain County Sheriff’s Department.

Linda Elliott began working for Ben Hayes Construction at Washington in November 2019 and the business’ finances were left in her hands when the owner moved to Florida in February 2020.

The investigation uncovered more than 1,100 fraudulent transactions on the business account, the owner’s credit cards and other accounts.

Those transactions include :

• 95 fraudulent checks and direct deposits on the Ben Hayes Construction account totaling $410,780.45;
• 318 fraudulent charges on one credit card for $64,520.33;
• 174 fraudulent charges on a second credit card for $64,806.82;
• 151 fraudulent charges on a third credit card for $11,567.37;
• 361 fraudulent charges on a fourth credit card for $137,752.26;
• 39 fraudulent charges on a credit card obtained by Linda Elliott using the company owner’s identity totaling $2,167.40;
• 7 fraudulent charges on a fifth credit card for $4,795.07; and
• 33 fraudulent charges on the company owner’s Amazon account totaling $4,074.76.

According to the OSBI, Linda Elliott faces 27 felony counts, including 12 counts of embezzlement, 10 counts of violating the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act, three counts of identity theft and one count each of exploiting the elderly and conspiracy.

Her husband, Keith Elliott, faces three counts of receiving stolen/embezzled property, two counts of obtaining money by false pretenses and one count of conspiracy.

Charges against Sheila Railback include eight violations of the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act, five counts of obtaining money by false pretenses, two counts of receiving stolen/embezzled property and one count of conspiracy.

Her spouse, Tatiana Railback, faces two counts each of receiving stolen/embezzled property and obtaining money by false pretenses and one count of conspiracy.

Also assisting in the investigation were the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Department, Oklahoma City Police Department and Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office.