West Plains, MO. – The West Plains woman that is accused of stealing over $50,000 from a local business has gained 56 additional felony forgery charges. Makenzie Smith, age 23 of West Plains, was in court on December 20, 2022 for a hearing on the initial 11 counts of Forgery and one count of Stealing $25,000 or more.
Judge Robert Ray issued a case review for January 18, 2023 and added 56 additional Felony Forgery charges, a charge of Stealing – $750 or more, and Fraudulent Use of Credit/Debit Device.
According to the probable cause statement, the charges stem from when Smith was employed at Wiley Fence Company in West Plains between March 2021 to September 2022. During this time, it was found that she had accessed the company’s business system, been forging and/or duplicating multiple payroll checks, and non payroll checks to herself, credit card fraud, the theft and usage of a company fuel card, and other potential incidents of theft from the company.
The total 67 felony forgery charges come from 35 duplicated payroll checks and 32 forged payroll checks that Smith had made out to herself. The amount discovered stolen totaled at $51,612.42.
In addition, Wiley Fence Company has a lawsuit against Makenzie Smith and a second person, Stetson Fletcher, that was filed on September 22, 2022, three days after Smith was arrested for the forgery charges.
