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A Hollidaysburg man is accused of embezzling nearly $400,000 while working as a bookkeeper for a local law firm.
Adam Wayne Bush, 41, was arraigned Wednesday before Magisterial District Judge Benjamin F. Jones on felony charges of forgery, identity theft, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, criminal use of a communication facility and access device used without authorization along with a misdemeanor charge of possession of an access device knowing counterfeit, altered. He was released on $100,000 bail and is to appear for a preliminary hearing Nov. 30 before Jones.
According to court documents, Bush had been working as a bookkeeper for Goldstein & Heslop law firm since 2015 and began working on a part-time basis in May 2022. Shortly after that, the owners of the firm began to have issues with bills being paid on time.
On Sept. 12, a Citizens credit card bill, with a balance of more than $29,000, was discovered. The card was to have been canceled in April, the owners said.
While looking into the account, an owner told police that cash advances had been made on the card. When the owner contacted Bush, he allegedly texted that he made the cash advances to make payroll, among other excuses.
Bush allegedly texted the owner, "I will put things on your chair after work. I messed up and will fix everything." The law firm's owners told Bush to return his key and other property that belonged to the firm and Bush was blocked from accessing the building.
An audit of the law firm's bank accounts allegedly showed Bush had been writing unauthorized/forged checks out of the primary checking account. It was reported that 62 checks totaling $273,173.26 were forged, with the earliest one being in May 2019. A majority of the checks were made out to Bush and forged with the signature of someone who had retired from the firm in 2018.
A closer examination of the credit card showed a total of 187 unauthorized cash advances totaling $98,560.50. In addition, the law firm paid $10,550.28 in interest in statement fees on the card and it was still accruing monthly.
Police said the total loss/theft from the law firm is $382,279.04.
During an interview with Altoona police on Oct. 4, Bush said he was struggling financially and desperate. He told police that at one point he was paying two mortgages, supporting four children and paying child support.
Police said, when asked, Bush didn't know how much he took, stating, "I obviously didn't keep record."
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Bush told police he used the money to pay bills, but police learned of a house he had purchased and began completely renovating, with some of the law firm's checks being written out to the home improvement company working on the house.
Bush allegedly told police that he did transfer money from the law firm's trust account used to pay settlements/hold funds for customers because the main operating account did not have enough funds to make payroll due to his actions, court documents state.