crime and courts Insurance firm seeks $200K in Chesapeake embezzlement case [Virginian – Pilot]

By Scott Daugherty |

The Virginian-Pilot

CHESAPEAKE

The woman behind what may be the largest embezzlement case ever heard in a Chesapeake court now has more to worry about than her pending sentencing hearing.

An insurance company has filed a $200,000 civil lawsuit against Shelly Annette Spencer and her husband, Lewis, related to the woman's $1.3 million embezzlement from a Chesapeake-based construction firm.

According to the Circuit Court complaint, Westfield Insurance Company was forced to pay $200,000 to Higgerson-Buchanan Inc. to satisfy the employee theft provision of the business' policy. The insurance company now wants the Spencers to reimburse it for the expenditure.

James McCaa III, Westfield Insurance's attorney, and the Spencers did not return calls for comment. Officials with Higgerson-Buchanan declined to comment.

No hearings are scheduled in the civil case. Shelly Spencer, who is currently in jail, is scheduled to be sentenced May 11 in the criminal case.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Derek Wagner declined to say whether he would seek restitution at sentencing.

According to court documents, Spencer, 49, of the Fernwood Farms subdivision, worked as a clerk with Higgerson-Buchanan for more than 23 years. It was part of her job to match bank statements with invoices and issue checks to vendors.

From October 2004 through May 2010, she wrote 308 checks to pay the personal bills of her and her husband, court documents said. In the company's business ledger, however, she made it appear she was paying a vendor.

In October, Spencer pleaded guilty to 65 counts of embezzlement. Each count has a maximum sentence of 20 years.

During the plea hearing, Circuit Judge Bruce H. Kushner said the embezzlement represented "perhaps the largest case of this kind ... in the history of this court."

While Lewis Spencer did not work for Higgerson-Buchanan and had no direct access to the company's accounts, Westfield Insurance claims in the lawsuit he "knowingly conspired" with his wife to misappropriate the money.

Scott Daugherty, 757-222-5221,

[email protected]

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background

Shelly Annette Spencer, an ex-clerk at Higgerson-Buchanan Inc., wrote checks to pay personal bills, but marked them as checks to vendors. She pleaded guilty to 65 counts of embezzlement. The construction firm got $200,000 from Westfield Insurance Company under an employee theft provision of its policy.