Detective testifies at hearing for suspect in embezzlement

The judge said Toda's bond did not need to be modified or reduced.
AUSTINTOWN -- A Howland woman who is accused of embezzling almost $1.7 million from her employer had her case transferred to the Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas.
Deborah Toda, 48, of Southwind Drive Northeast, was a bookkeeper for North Central Pennsylvania Dialysis Clinic at its administrative offices in Boardman on Market Street.
At her hearing Monday before Judge Scott Hunter in Mahoning County Court, Boardman detective Greg Stepuk testified that evidence suggests Toda wrote checks to herself, with the embezzlement beginning in July 2004 and continuing monthly up until this month.
A secretary for the company recently questioned an expenditure. That led to Toda's arrest June 16.
Stepuk testified that 53 checks are in question. He said an audit found checks diverted to an account Toda had in Charter One Bank for $1,652,817.
Stepuk said he sought search warrants and found files of expenditures out of the account.
Account in name of company
Stepuk said that the account was opened in the name of DTI, which actually was a legitimate company doing business with North Central Dialysis.
Toda wrote checks and cashed them, then altered the company's bank statements, possibly using a label maker, to reflect that the money went to other companies with which North Central Dialysis did business, Stepuk has said.
Stepuk testified that police have seized assets of Toda's that include $10,000 worth of jewelry and 13 vehicles. He said home improvements in question include a swimming pool and $183,000 worth of landscaping.
Stepuk also testified that police can't account for the whereabouts of $200,000 from Toda's account.
Judge Hunter also decided that Toda's bond did not need to be reduced or modified. The bond is for $1.5 million, backed up with real estate holdings, and Toda must surrender her passport. She was taken back to the Mahoning County jail after the hearing.