South West bookkeeper admits stealing more than $730K from Busselton and Dunsborough employers over 13 years

A South Bunbury bookkeeper accused of stealing more than $730,000 from two different employers in the South West over the course of 13 years has pleaded guilty to all charges. Kathleen Margaret Griffiths, 54, appeared in Bunbury Magistrate’s Court on Monday where she pleaded guilty to 16 charges of stealing as a servant. Griffiths provided bookkeeping services to the Busselton-based Globe Sign Company between 2005 and 2018, when she stole various quantities of cash totalling to $680,801. Police told the court the biggest quantity stolen at one time was $137,562, during the the 2015-16 financial year. Additionally, Griffiths stole a further $57,010.50 while working at the Dunsborough Licence & Post Office between the 2015-16 and 2017-18 financial years. Originally charged with 18 counts, the prosecution discontinued two counts relating to Dunsborough Licence & Post Office. In her first appearance for the charges, police told the court Griffiths used several tactics to conceal her offending, including falsely recording transactions as a payment to the owner, falsely inflating the amount of an invoice and paying the inflated amount to herself, and paying herself numerous times during a weekly pay cycle. The charges have all been committed to Bunbury District Court, where Griffiths will appear for a sentence mention hearing in April.