RACINE, Wis. — A Cedarburg woman has been charged after she allegedly embezzled more than $100,000 from a Racine non-profit that works primarily with kids living with Autism.
According to a criminal complaint, the president and owner of Sonnenberg Consultants contacted police after she suspected Heather Wenthold, the suspect, had been stealing from the nonprofit.
The owner suspected Wenthold had been embezzling from Sonnenberg Schools, located on Franklin Street in Racine. The complaint says the school provides education for grades K-12 and primarily focuses on students living with autism.
Wenthold had been an employee with Sonnenberg Consultants since 2019 and began working at Sonnenberg Schools in 2022 when it opened. She was in charge of the money transactions including income and expenses.
The owner said she began suspecting Wenthold when Wenthold approached her about three options concerning her employment; specifically, the school could do a salary at a reduced part-time role, a contract with her, or she could separate from the business.
The complaint says Wenthold stated she had family issues to attend to and was emotional about it. However, the owner later learned Wenthold had a full-time job at another Racine business and had rarely shown up to her job at Sonnenberg schools.
According to the complaint, Wenthold had only been physically in the school a total of five times as of April 2023, a time when Wenthold was the principal.
The owner then began noticing other suspicious activity, saying she had been locked out of Quickbooks, where the school tracks its finances.
When the owner asked Wenthold about it, part of Quickbooks was unlocked but the owner still could not see everything. There was also a PayPal account that the owner did not have access to.
The complaint says when the owner asked Wenthold about the account, Wenthold deleted it.
The school board decided then to hold a closed-door meeting to discuss Wenthold, where they decided to separate Wenthold from the school.
One minute after Wenthold was informed of the separation, the complaint says she began deleting files from the school system. She allegedly deleted over 5,000 files before her access to the system was terminated.
The owner told police that she believes more than $100,000 worth of charges, bonuses, "reimbursements" and other transactions are part of the embezzlement.
The criminal complaint says investigators determined Wenthold got a new professionally installed basketball hoop, a dumpster, a zero-turn lawnmower with attachments, new appliances, new doors, flooring, and computers, and booked vacations including a trip to Hawaii with the money she allegedly embezzled.
She reportedly used credit cards in her name and the owner's name that were meant for the school and Sonnenberg Consultants. She also used the PayPal account to make all the purchases listed above.
Wenthold is facing a total of ten charges, detailed below:
- Computer crimes - destroying data
- Embezzlement (three counts)
- Felony personal ID theft - financial gain
- Misdemeanor bail jumping (five counts)
If convicted on all the charges, Wenthold could face a total of more than 40 years in prison. She had her first appearance in court on Thursday, where her bail was set at $50,000 cash.
Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 20 at 9 a.m.
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