Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties

Warrant filed for Montreal woman on theft charges

By RICHARD JENKINS

[email protected]

Hurley — A warrant has been filed in Iron County Court for a Montreal woman due to her failure to attend her initial appearance on misdemeanor theft charges Monday.

Cathryn Leigh Huotari, 48, is charged with two counts of misdemeanor theft of less than $2,500 — a crime with a potential maximum sentence of nine months in jail or a fine of up to $10,000.

Huotari is accused of taking approximately $2,105 between June 2017 and September 2018 in connection to her job with the Eagle Bluff Condo Association.

Association officials contacted the Hurley Police Department in December after they found alleged discrepancies in the records for rented condos, according to Huotari's criminal complaint.

The officials found two deposits totaling $536 from credit cards that didn't match the amount of the rented condos, according to the complaint. When asked, the renters told them partial payments were made on the cards and the balance paid in cash.

The officials were allegedly unable to find records of the cash balances being deposited into the association’s bank account. Officials said Huotari was responsible for making bank deposits, according to the complaint, until she quit her job in October.

Hurley Police Department Sgt. Donald Packmayer spoke with Huotari Dec. 13, according to the complaint, to review bank statements and discuss the process for renting and paying for rooms.

While the complaint said she initially denied taking any money, Huotari allegedly admitted to taking partial cash payments from the same group on two different occasions. While she said she planned to pay the money back, her leaving the job prevented her from doing so.

Huotari estimated she took $800 cash between Aug. 28 and Sept. 2 and another $800 the previous time the parties partially paid cash, according to the complaint.

Condo association officials reported $1,055 cash missing from Aug. 28 to Sept. 2, according to the complaint, and $1,050 in cash missing from June 11-18, 2017.