In the News

Guidry wants day in state court

By Laurie Guhr
The Wichita Business Journal
November 7, 1997

The attorney representing a woman accused of embezzling $2.7 million wants a lawsuit filed last week by her former employer to be moved from federal to state court.

U.S. District Court Judge Monti Belot has scheduled a hearing on Monday to determine where the suit against Anita L. Guidry, filed by Wichita Sheet Metal Supply Inc., will be heard.

The judge also is being asked to indefinitely continue an order freezing the assets of Guidry and her husband, Terry D. Guidry.

Guidry's daughter, Nichole Guidry, and sisters Loletia Williams and Nikita Williams, also are named in the suit.

Whether the case is considered in state or federal court has a direct impact on how much money Guidry's former employer can seek to collect in the lawsuit about her alleged theft.

Wichita Sheet Metal Supply Inc. is seeking a judgment against Guidry of more than $8 million -- nearly triple the amount allegedly embezzled by Guidry. This trebling of damages is allowed in federal -- but not state -- cases.

The civil lawsuit was filed under the auspices of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, alleging that Guidry committed bank fraud and money laundering, making the matter a federal case.

"Hogwash," said Guidry's attorney Stephen M. Joseph.

Joseph said he plans to argue that the matter should be filed with the state. To do so, Joseph said, he must prove to the federal court judge the case presented by attorneys for Wichita Sheet Metal Supply is not likely to succeed in federal court.

"We're absolutely objecting to this being in federal court. Our position is really simple. We've cooperated. We've been forthright. We neither admit nor deny any improper conduct," Joseph said.

Attorney Kasey Alan Rogg, who represents Wichita Sheet Metal Supply, disagreed.

"He's obviously trying to make it sound like it is not legitimate," Rogg said. "There are substantial interstate transactions to justify the claim."

Whether the lawsuit is settled in federal or state court could also impact where criminal charges are filed against Guidry.

"There are serious implications in criminal law for these allegations," Joseph said.

According to documents from the U.S. District Court, at the time the civil lawsuit was filed, Guidry had $27,000 in a personal account at Intrust bank, an additional $300,000 in an out-of-state account, and $680,000 in clothing and accessories. Approximately $1.7 million has yet to be recovered.

Guidry, the former controller at Wichita Sheet Metal Supply Inc., voluntarily surrendered the clothing and other items following the discovery of missing funds and her subsequent resignation on July 9, Joseph said.

Now attorneys for both Guidry and Wichita Sheet Metal Supply are left with a warehouse full of dresses, scarves, shoes, jewelry and furs -- and the hope that the items can somehow be turned back into cash.

Among the items are more than 1,300 garments with an average cost of $407 per item, Rogg said.

According to court documents, among the items surrendered by Guidry were an $8,000 full-length mink coat, 429 pairs of "Z Design" earrings worth about $50,000, and a sterling silver necklace and earring set that retailed for more than $3,000.

Attorneys for both sides speculated the clothes and accessories would be sold at auction.

"We have nothing definite planned at this point," Rogg said. "We're looking into our options and trying to decide if a market the size of Wichita could absorb these clothes."

The federal lawsuit alleges Guidry funneled company funds for personal use during a five-year period beginning in 1992.

According to company owner Freda Moore, Guidry had been an employee since March 1986 in the company's accounting department where she handled most of its monies and accounts.

Guidry's alleged years of embezzlement were discovered during a routine audit in June and July. In its suit, the company alleges that three to five times per month for five years, Guidry channeled company funds for personal use in $9,000 or $10,000 increments.

To do so, she signed a check made payable to Kansas Bank & Trust, and later Intrust Bank. Because the check required a co-signer, she allegedly had the company's president, Moore, or the company's vice president, John Griffitt, also sign the check, purportedly for payment to an account that held money for quarterly federal income tax payments.

According to court documents, Guidry would take the check made payable to the bank, exchange it for cash of an equal amount and record the check not as an income tax payment, but as inventory.

"Guidry was entering the checks as tax payments then later re-entering the checks as inventory so it never showed on the books as a tax deposit, but an inventory purchase," said Stan Churchill, a partner in the law firm representing Wichita Sheet Metal Supply.

It was discovered during a routine audit in June and July performed by Koch, Seidhoff, Hand & Dunn that there was a sizable difference in the amount of inventory on hand and the amount that had been recorded in the ledgers.

According to court documents, "Each month... she would increase the inventory purchases account by the approximate amount of funds she had already embezzled or which she planned to embezzle and decrease the... federal income tax accounts by an equal amount."

© opyright 1997 American City Business Journals Inc.