Tri-Cities bookkeeper guilty of stealing $500k from farm wants sentence thrown out

A judge found a Franklin County’s farm’s former bookkeeper stole more than $500,000 over several years. The charges had previously been dropped due to an attorney shortage.

Brittany R. Adams, 39, of West Richland, forged the signature of her boss on 95 checks between 2016 and 2022. Most were written for $4,000 each, according to court documents.

Judge Norma Rodriguez found her guilty of first-degree theft and forgery after an hour-long trial Thursday morning.

She also found that Adams stole far more than normal, abused a position of trust and it was well-planned. These factors allowed Rodriguez to go above the normal 90-day maximum for the crimes.

Adams’ attorney Michael Vander Sys filed a notice of appeal, and Rodriguez gave her a chance to post a $50,000 bond while waiting for the appeal.

Adams told investigators she needed the money because her husband’s construction business wasn’t bringing in enough and she needed to pay bills and buy food.

But Rodriguez calculated that Adams took more than $100,000 a year, far more than what was necessary to buy necessities.

“I’m the kind of person that does value hard work,” Rodriguez said. “ I see the tears and everything, and I know that she’s hurting right now, but each time a check was written, she could (have) stopped and she didn’t.”

She followed the prosecutor’s recommendation and sentenced Adams to two years in prison.

Vander Sys agreed a lot of money was taken, but said the two-year sentence is long. He suggested a 90-day sentence saying his client has always been remorseful and wanted a court order in place to help her repay the money.

“This is not a case where she’s in any way trying to avoid responsibility or sanction,” Vander Sys said. “She adamantly wants to repay. ... She’s attempted to apologize and make it right. “

Adams has been home schooling her children and working as a referee to cover the bills. She apologized during her Thursday sentencing hearing to the victims and has sought out counseling.

This case has been made more complicated because it was caught in the middle of an attorney shortage in Franklin County.

This was the second time Franklin County prosecutors charged Adams with stealing the money. They initially filed charges in 2023, but were forced to drop the charges after she waited months for an attorney

The Washington state and federal constitutions guarantee criminal suspects the right to an attorney if they can’t afford one. Since Adams qualified for a public defender and was not in jail, the law says she is entitled to a trial within 90 days if she doesn’t agree to a delay.

But that can’t happen without an attorney.

Judge David Petersen allowed the case to continue based on the previous rulings of Superior Court judges.

Franklin County farm theft

Adams started working for Mike Bosman’s farm on Sagemoor Road in 2014 and was put in charge of the business account and invoices, but didn’t have the authority to sign checks.

She started fabricating extra expenses to the bank in order to hide the regular checks that she wrote to her husband.

She entered false information in Quick Books with her husband’s name or for a random farm supply company, according to court documents.

She printed out the checks with her husband’s name on them and forged her boss’ signature, according to court documents.

Investigators said her husband was not aware of the theft and seemed surprised when police talked with him.

The scheme was uncovered by the farm owner’s banker, who discovered the series of checks.

Bosman told police he had hired Adams’ husband just once, and he hadn’t done any other work for him since.

Bosman told Rodriguez on Thursday that they treated her like family. Her children would often come with her and made friends with his son.

“This tears us up that she could do that over and over and over week after week and sit there with a straight face and lie to me every day,” he said.

The missing money was not the only damage. It turned out that she also did not pay their taxes. He had an Internal Revenue Service agent come to his farm over missed payments.

Lack of an attorney

Adams’ charges were originally filed at a time when Franklin County was struggling to contract enough attorneys for the public defender office.

During that same time, a Superior Court judge cut the bail amounts for rape and stolen car suspects after they didn’t have defense attorneys for two months.

Then public defense Manager Larry Zeigler said he was focused first on getting attorneys assigned to suspects charged with violent crimes and people in jail.

Simply not having an attorney available is not a good enough excuse, Vander Sys said in a motion to dismiss the case.

“The state is mandated in each county to provide a sufficient number of public defense attorneys to cover assignment of each defendant’s case,” he wrote.

While defense attorneys can ask for more time to prepare before a trial, the motion has to come from the defense attorney.

Vander Sys argued that the state was aware of the shortage of defense attorneys, and failed to address the issue.

“The state has created a system-wide failure of the indigent defense system of services in this county resulting in the defendant not having an attorney for over a month,” Vander Sys wrote.