Woman found guilty of stealing from Elkhorn employer
By Kellen Olshefski
Editor
A 45-year-old Delavan woman will appear before Walworth County Circuit Court Judge David Reddy at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday for charges of theft in a business setting.
According to online court records, Dawn Kuehni, of 708 Rickords St., Delavan, was charged with one count of theft in a business setting less than or equal to $2,500, one count of theft in a business setting, $2,500 to $5,000, one count of theft in a business setting, $5,000 to $10,000, and two counts of theft in a business setting, greater than $10,000.
Kuehni was found guilty of one count of theft in a business setting, $2,500 to $5,000, a class I felony, and one count of theft in a business setting, less than or equal to $2,500, a misdemeanor, on May 14. The other three, more severe felony charges were dismissed, but read-in.
According to the criminal complaint, owner of Elkhorn Collision Center Bill Ghiselli met with Detective Thomas Bushey of the City of Elkhorn Police Department on Jan. 28, 2014. Ghiselli told police he had previously employed Kuehni to hand financial matters, later placing her in charge of records in 2011.
The complaint states upon reviewing financial records more closely, Ghiselli told police no cash deposits had been made since May of 2013 and believed more than $10,000 had been stolen from the business by Kuehni.
On Jan. 28, police visited Kuehni at Elkhorn Collision Center and according to the complaint asked her to come talk with Bushey, at which time Ghiselli said Kuehni entered his office and asked if there was a way to work it out and that she wanted to pay him back the money she had taken from the business.
According to the criminal complaint, Kuehni admitted to “fudging the books” to make it look like her father had paid a deductible when the shop did some work on his vehicle and when asked to give a best guess on how much she had taken, she said, “I would say $5,000.”
The complaint states Kuehni told police she would put the money in her personal bank account and the first time she remembered taking cash was in late 2012. Kuehni later said the amount she had taken was probably closer to $7,000, according to the complaint.
The complaint states Ghiselli and Eileen Diekow later submitted several boxes of documents to police, documenting Kuehni had written and cashed an unauthorized “bonus” check for herself on March 14, 2010 totaling $2,691.26.
