Prosser woman stole from her car dealer boss to fuel her $1M gambling habit

A Prosser woman with a high-priced gambling habit used area casinos to “wash” large amounts of money she stole from her boss.

Amanda C. Wabeke, 34, would load the money she’d embezzled from Prosser’s Tom Denchel Ford Country onto her casino rewards card and play slot machines, then cash out her ticket.

Investigators could only prove that Wabeke stole $115,000 over several years, but the car dealership’s namesake believes it was at least double that amount.

“She was a trusted employee that was manipulative, and she was an office manager that was granted total control,” Tom Denchel told the Tri-City Herald.

“I’ve been a Ford dealer since 1985 and have three stores and 150 employees between (Washington and Oregon), and sadly she was the one that had the most power to manipulate and change stuff.”

Wabeke pleaded guilty in May 2019 to one count of first-degree theft in Benton County Superior Court.

Her sentencing was delayed nearly two years while attorneys argued over the restitution amount, along with limited judicial proceedings during the coronavirus pandemic.

This week, Judge Joe Burrowes ordered Wabeke to spend six months in the county jail and repay $114,907 to Denchel.

The sentence was two times the three-month maximum term she normally would have received as a first-time offender. She was told she can do her time on work crew or work release if eligible.

Court documents say when Wabeke pleaded guilty, she agreed that her crime was a major economic offense by involving various factors including a high-degree of sophistication and planning over a lengthy period, using her position of trust in a financial position to cause a substantial monetary loss greater than a typical offense.

Burrowes said all of those factors were present in the crime based on what he heard during an earlier restitution hearing that lasted several days.

The judge found that an exceptional sentence was appropriate, under the Sentencing Reform Act, “to ensure that the punishment for the crime is proportionate to the seriousness of the offense and to promote respect for the law by providing a punishment which is just.”

Wabeke was given until June 15 to report to jail.

Deputy Prosecutor Terry Bloor explained that he asked for the delay hoping Wabeke would have her COVID-19 vaccine shots by the end of May, followed by two extra weeks to make sure there aren’t any side effects.

“I just thought it was fair to not have her exposed to conditions (in the jail or on work release) that might be life-threatening,” said Bloor.

Wabeke, in a short statement during the sentencing hearing, thanked her attorney and the prosecutors and said she’s made some mistakes.

No apologies

Bloor told the Herald that he did not consider it an apology.

Neither did Denchel, who said his former employee didn’t have any remorse for what she did or appear to be bothered by the jail sentence. He described her as having a smirk on her face when she left the courtroom, and doubts he will see any of that restitution money.

“It’s gone and we know that. I’m a big boy, and I can handle it. It’s more principle than anything,” said Denchel.

He added that he’s lost some friends since the case was started three years ago because Wabeke claimed she was being set up and made Denchel out to be a bad guy for taking her to court.

“That’s really sad. She wasn’t an angel at all. She was something else,” he said. “There’s just two sides, with a very dark side.”

According to the car dealer, police were able to recover $30,000 in Wabeke’s winnings from Legends Casino in Toppenish and have placed that money into a trust to be given to Denchel.

High-priced habit

Bloor said detectives were able to pull Wabeke’s rewards card records to show how much she was spending on slot machines.

She spent nearly $186,000 in 2015, about $413,000 in 2016 and nearly $332,500 in 2017.

The records don’t reflect her winnings, or how much was played in table games.

The prosecutor said there was no evidence that Wabeke, after moving that money through the casinos and depositing it into her personal bank accounts, used it for lavish vacations, fancy cars or expensive jewelry.

Wabeke started working at the Wine Country Road dealership in 2010 as an account specialist. The embezzlement started three years later when she was office manager of the Prosser location, and continued into mid-2017 when the company took the results of its internal investigation to Prosser police.

When Wabeke was charged in February 2018, detectives pointed to 23 suspicious transactions over the four years to support the $62,000 theft.

Denchel said as the investigation continued, they found evidence showing his business had lost closer to the $115,000. And still, all these years later, they continue to find paperwork or other signs of even more theft, he said.

Wabeke would move the money around to different accounts and write checks to petty cash and to herself.

“A car store can generate 100 to 150 pieces of paper between service and parts and used cars and new cars, so there were lots of places to hide money,” said Denchel.

On one occasion in late 2016, she drew petty cash to pay the vendors for Tom Denchel Ford Country’s Christmas party. The money also was to cover a $50 gift card for every employee.

But after the party was done, there remained a balance of $11,250 pulled for petty cash that was unaccounted for.

Suspicious transactions

When Sue Ringe — then the comptroller for Denchel’s two Oregon stores based in Hermiston — noticed unusual activity in 2017 and asked Wabeke about the checks, she responded that “she had made a mistake and must have ‘fat fingered’ the numbers,” according to court documents.

Ringe then reviewed the books and discovered numerous unauthorized transactions by Wabeke.

Documents state that Wabeke on several occasions would cash special incentive checks intended for sales people, but never give the money to the sales manager to be distributed to the employees.

She also posted money to a customer receivable account and later reclassified it as a bad debt, wrote a check claiming it was a 401(k) loan, pocketed a customer’s cash, and applied a credit to a personal account after overpaying a vendor.

Denchel told the Herald they started catching onto the fact something was wrong when a customer would come in claiming to have bought a service contract with the dealership, yet nothing was in the computer.

That’s because Wabeke would take the customer’s money and then cancel their contract before it was ever entered into the system, he explained.

Denchel said had he “been more astute,” he might have found the theft earlier. He credited Ringe with uncovering what really was going on at his Prosser location.

Ringe worked with their bank to review Wabeke’s transactions and the checks she had cashed, including some that she had written to herself and signed both front and back.

The owner said Wabeke had tried to get Ringe fired on several occasions, likely because she feared Ringe might eventually discover the embezzlement. Instead, he said, Ringe has been with his company now for more than two decades and was made the comptroller for all three properties.

Denchel said the store’s finances were healthy before the theft was discovered, though they still had to tighten the belt a little as a result of it.

Wabeke declined to speak with police during the investigation.

When she met with Denchel before the car dealer went to police, she admitted owing about $25,100 — nearly $40,000 less than what was alleged stolen at the time.

“She never said she was sorry,” he told the Herald. “When we did catch her, she wasn’t happy, and I thought Monday she might apologize in front of the judge. There was nothing even close to it.”