Willits clerk takes stand in $500,000 Geigers market embezzlement trial

A Willits woman suspected of stealing almost $500,000 from the Laytonville grocery store where she was employed, imperiling the business, took the stand in court this week and testified she was framed, putting the crime on co-workers and her boss.

The embezzlement case against Christine Kelsay is one of the largest in recent Mendocino County history, according to District Attorney’s Office spokesman Mike Geniella.

Kelsay is accused of taking cash that she was supposed to document and deposit during the seven years she worked in human resources and accounting at Geigers Long Valley Market. She was arrested in June 2015 and charged with embezzlement following a lengthy investigation into the thefts.

Kelsay became the prime suspect primarily because she was the only employee who was working each time money disappeared, according to testimony during the trial, which began last week.

District Attorney David Eyster noted during cross examination that Kelsay made large cash deposits to her bank accounts within several days of money disappearing from the store.

She also appeared to be living a lifestyle that was inconsistent with the amount of money she and her husband earned on paper, according to witness testimony and statements made by Eyster as he questioned Kelsay in Mendocino County Superior Court.

“I noticed the elaborate lifestyle she was living,” said Dan Guy, the manager of the market since 2011. He noted she had purchased a car, a truck and tickets to a Giants playoff game, among other things. He said she told co-workers she was sending her father and son to a Pittsburgh Steelers game.

Eyster noted attendances at other sporting games and vacations, including a trip with extended family to Disneyland in 2014, a year in which $161,523 was stolen from Geigers market.

Kelsay said other people - friends and family - paid for those trips.

She and her husband, Christopher, also purchased a home in the Brooktrails subdivision outside Willits, all-terrain vehicles and a trailer for hauling them while she worked at Geigers market, Eyster noted.

On paper, the two were earning a combined income of between $4,000 and $4,800 a month, according to figures gleaned from paychecks and statements filed by Kelsay in family court documents, in connection with child support for her two older children. The documents were presented as evidence in court, along with ones that indicated the Kelsay’s monthly debts exceeded their income.

Under questioning from Eyster and Kelsay’s attorney, Justin Petersen, Kelsay attempted to justify and explain the expenditures.

Kelsay, who managed all of her family’s money, said her husband earns much more as a handyman than they disclosed in family court documents or that he had told investigators before trial.

Christopher Kelsay said he’d lied about his earnings to the investigators who interviewed him before trial.

Christine Kelsay said she also earned additional income trimming marijuana and growing and selling pot for a couple of years during the time period in question.

She claimed she did nothing wrong. She accused others at the store of stealing the money and setting her up to take the fall.

Kelsay alleged Abbe Arkelian, the store’s financial manager and a key witness in her trial, took the money even though Arkelian was on vacation and maternity leave during a number of the thefts.

“How was Abbe stealing the money if she wasn’t there?” asked Eyster.

“It could have been any of the managers” or the owner of the store, Michael Braught, Kelsay said.

“Why would (Braught) steal?” Eyster asked.

Kelsay said maybe he wanted to avoid paying taxes on the income.

She suggested several people could have been working in cahoots to frame her.

Eyster asked Kelsay, who signed off on the daily accounts each of the 325 times cash went missing, if she had ever noticed any discrepancies in the store’s accounting system.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t,” Kelsay said.

Testimony in the trial is expected to conclude Thursday.