Woman Charged With Stealing Over $64K From Her Employer

January 5, 2018

An Escambia County woman has been arrested for allegedly stealing over $64,000 from her employer over a two year period.

Linda Lee Hanford, 51, was charged with felony grand theft and felony scheme to defraud for diverting the money from internet sales to her personal account.

Handford was hired to run an internet site selling electric golf cart accessories by Lender Services, owned by automotive dealer Eddie Mercer.  As a contract employee, she was paid $13.50 per hour to take orders, pass the orders to a vendor for delivery to customers and transfer the customer’s payment into a Lender Services bank account.

She would sell products at or below cost and keep the entire cost of the product for herself, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

At the time Hanford was hired by Lender Services she was, and remains, on probation for a local felony theft conviction in 2005. In 2006, she was ordered to have “no job receiving funds or paying out funds”.

Once Hanford was contacted by a Sheriff’s Office investigator and her probation officer, she sent several rambling text messages to Mercer, begging his forgiveness, blaming her actions on jealousy and depression and stating she was undergoing treatment for a “severe compulsive disorder”, according to an arrest report.

Hanford was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $25,000 bond.

Comments

12 Responses to “Woman Charged With Stealing Over $64K From Her Employer”

  1. Mark on January 6th, 2018 11:22 am

    PROPS to the Mercer’s for trying to give someone a second chance.

    A “Princess Bride” BOOOOOOO! To MS. Handford for taking advantage of the kindness of others.

    People wonder why so many will not give others a second chance. This is why.

  2. Good grief on January 6th, 2018 4:32 am

    Oh the mess we get ourselves in. She has no one to blame but herself. Surely she knew better?! This not only affects her but also the people who love this selfish woman. How sad for them.

  3. ROBERT on January 5th, 2018 4:14 pm

    Kind of stupid to hire a convicted and on probation thief and not monitor her work performance…seems like her PO should have known where she was working etc and realized it was in violation….

  4. anne 1of2 on January 5th, 2018 12:51 pm

    We all try to forgive and forget. I feel bad for the Mercer family. This woman had more problems than they could fix. She needs to sit in jail and sort out her life for awhile.

  5. Bradley Mercer on January 5th, 2018 12:27 pm

    To Trocarman, she use to be a close friend to our family so my uncle was gracious enough gave to give her an opportunity to get her life back together because that’s just how the Mercer’s are. It’s our strength and also our weakness

  6. fred on January 5th, 2018 12:13 pm

    This is a deficient system of internal controls. One employee should never have such a span of control of all aspects of orders, receipts and deposits. it’s just an invitation to fraud. I would suggest Mr. Mercer hire a CPA to consult and set up a competent system. The deficiency does NOT excuse Hanford, who exploited the opportunity after having received a second chance. I hope she has plenty of time to contemplate what she wasted by her actions.

  7. Tarrence Wright Sr on January 5th, 2018 11:34 am

    Dang it’s hard to trust anybody these days

  8. Deborah Daugherty on January 5th, 2018 10:32 am

    She should be ashamed of herself..The Mercer family is a giving,wonderful,bunch of people.They were very good to this woman.Hopefully,she will do some major time in prison..

  9. bar on January 5th, 2018 9:29 am

    wow 13.50 is not bad around here.but greed takes over.hope she has to pay it back

  10. tg on January 5th, 2018 7:12 am

    Let me think about this. You can get a Bond for less than you stole. I think she made a profit.

  11. Trocarman on January 5th, 2018 6:54 am

    Per the article, she was a convicted thief when Mercer hired her. What did Mercer expect?

  12. molinoman on January 5th, 2018 5:29 am

    Maybe a little time in a correctional facility would cure the disorder. Steal from someone there and see what happens. Quick cure.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News