An island bookkeeper who was charged last year with stealing from The Country Store was recently charged with stealing from an elderly couple she worked for as well.
Donna Marie Knowles, 65, now faces 35 counts of second-degree theft for both allegations. She is scheduled to stand trial in King County Superior Court on April 27.
Knowles already faced 25 counts of theft for allegedly stealing from The Country Store when she was charged with 10 more counts of theft on Feb. 26.
According to court documents, Knowles allegedly stole nearly $19,000 from islanders Harold and Roberta Rose while she did bookkeeping work for them between January and May of 2014.
Knowles was hired by the Roses in late 2013 or early 2014 after Roberta suffered a brain injury and needed help keeping the couple’s finances in order. Around that time, the couple also hired the company Visiting Angels to assist them with chores.
The thefts were discovered in July of 2014, when Roberta noticed her bank account didn’t look accurate. A bank employee and a local accountant assisting Roberta with her account found that there were numerous checks written to Knowles that Roberta did not know about. A representative from Visiting Angels contacted the King County Sheriff’s Office and Adult Protective Services about the issue.
Detective Debby Schmitz, with the sheriff’s office, ultimately found that Knowles had deposited numerous checks issued to her from the Roses that Roberta did not know about. She also deposited several checks issued to the Roses into her own account, including the couple’s tax return and investment checks from Morgan Stanley. The checks totaled $18,947.
In an interview with Schmitz and in a written statement, Knowles admitted to writing some of the checks to herself without permission after Roberta signed them.
“She said that Roberta assumed that the checks were for her bills,” Schmitz wrote in a court document.
Knowles was charged last July for embezzling from The Country Store between January 2011 and December 2012. While working there, she allegedly issued herself checks totaling more than $33,000 from the store’s business account as well as the personal account of the store’s elderly owner, Vy Biel. The thefts were discovered after Biel’s son began managing the store due to her declining health.
According to charging papers, Knowles admitted to some of the Country Store thefts and denied others when interviewed by Schmitz, who also handled that case. However, Knowles later told The Beachcomber she hadn’t committed any of the thefts.
Both Knowles and Roberta Rose declined to comment on the latest charges. Knowles has a preliminary hearing scheduled for next week.
