Mike Donoghue

Free Press Staff Writer

A South Burlington woman, under supervision by the Vermont Probation Department for an embezzlement conviction, is headed back to court for a new embezzlement case stemming from her latest job, records show.

Billie Laflam Preston, 41, formerly of Monkton, is due July 31 in Vermont Superior Court to answer the new embezzlement count, Williston police said.

Attempts to reach Preston were unsuccessful.

Preston initially was expected to appear in court this week on allegations of diverting about $55,000 over two years from the payroll account at Endyne Inc., where she worked as a bookkeeper, Williston Officer Joshua Moore said.

Moore said new information received Tuesday by Williston police indicated Endyne, an environmental laboratory company, also experienced some unknown electronic money transfers. Among them was a $2,700 allocation to the Vermont Student Assistance Corp. for Preston's account, Moore said.

Preston is a 1996 graduate of Champlain College, where she majored in accounting, school records show.

Preston was hired by Endyne in November 2011, Moore said. He said the investigation has uncovered questions about diverted payroll funds starting in mid February 2012.

It was unclear how Preston obtained the bookkeeping job at Endyne less than 18 months after she was convicted for embezzlement. Company owner Harry Locker did not respond to a phone message left at the business on James Brown Drive.

The Corrections Department said Tuesday the sentencing judge in the initial case, Michael Kupersmith, never restricted Preston's future employment.

RECENT EMBEZZLEMENT COVERAGE:

"The courts set the conditions by which probationers must abide, not the Department of Corrections. The Department is required to supervise probationers according to the conditions imposed by the courts," Dale Crook, director of field services, wrote in an email to the Burlington Free Press.

"In this case, the conditions of probation do not prohibit employment that permit the probationer to access or exercise authority over a business's money," Crook wrote.

Crook said the conditions imposed by Kupersmith were restitution, 100 hours of community service, counseling, and to appear before the local reparative board.

Preston pleaded guilty in May 2010 to embezzlement from University Wholesalers on Main Street in Colchester, court records show. Under a plea agreement, she received a deferred sentence, which created the possibility that her embezzlement conviction would be wiped off her record if Preston kept out of trouble for five years.

Colchester police and court records show an embezzlement was reported at University Wholesalers and that when she was arraigned in January 2010, a judge imposed conditions of release that she stay away from University Wholesalers, now known as Nokian Tyres.

After the guilty plea, Kupersmith ordered Preston to pay $15,056 in restitution to Peerless Insurance Co. as part of closing the case, records show.

Chittenden County State's Attorney T.J. Donovan said Preston could face prison time on the old case if convicted of the new crime.

Crook said Vermont Probation would file a violation complaint upon conviction.

"The court would determine the outcome of that violation," Crook added, "and determine if her probation gets revoked or not."

Contact Mike Donoghue at 660-1845 or mdonoghue@freepressmedia.com. Follow Mike on Twitter at www.twitter.com/FreepsMikeD.