Prison ordered in forgery case

SANDPOINT - A Bonner County woman convicted of swindling tens of thousands of dollars from her former employer was ordered Monday to serve up to eight years in prison.

However, Judge John Patrick Luster retained jurisdiction, which means Brandince Ann Waller-Boyd has a chance at probation after serving six months in the Idaho Department of Correction.

Luster found Waller-Boyd had an otherwise spotless criminal record, has shown genuine remorse for her actions and has agreed to pay full restitution.

The amount of restitution owed to Pure Health Solutions is listed at $99,006.72, according to court documents.

Waller-Boyd apologized to her former employer when asked if she had remarks before the sentence was handed down.

"I take full responsibility for what I did," said Waller-Boyd in a timid, quavering voice.

Waller-Boyd, 31, was charged with two counts of forgery and one count of grand theft for siphoning the money from Pure Health Solutions, a Sandpoint-based manufacturer of water purification systems. The company's products offer an alternative to bottled water and the toll it exacts on the environment.

Court documents said Waller-Boyd was hired to keep the books for Water Engineering Technologies, of which Pure Health Solutions own a majority stake. The embezzlement was discovered this summer and she confessed when confronted by Sandpoint Police.

Pure Health Solutions CEO John Windju said the company started 11 years ago and has grown to 60 employees here and abroad.

"We built this company around good, honest, hardworking employees," Windju told the court.

Windju said the defendant's actions have undermined the trusting, family environment the company enjoyed and asked Luster to impose a sentence which reflected the seriousness of the offense and sent the message that such crimes are intolerable in this community.

Waller-Boyd entered into a plea agreement this fall which shed one of the forgery counts and the felony theft count in exchange for an admission of guilt on the remaining forgery count. Non-binding sentencing recommendations proposed local jail time and a suspended prison sentence.

Waller-Boyd's defense counsel, Bryce Powell, urged the court to adopt those terms so his client could care for her children and make restitution. He said Waller-Boyd buckled under the financial strain of caring for four children and several stepchildren with her income and fluctuating supplemental from her husband's business.

"She made some very terrible decisions that led us here today," Powell said.

The number of times Waller-Boyd made such decisions topped 80, Luster noted. Luster said the reality is that restitution is very rarely accomplished entirely and does not take into account the erosion of trust within a victimized company.

Idaho's sentencing guidelines require judges factor in the deterrent effect of a sentence, which Luster said was particularly important in this case due to the uncertain financial times the country is enduring.

"Frankly, I don't think suspended time and a jail sentence meet that goal," he said.

Luster ultimately adopted the punishment recommendation promoted by a pre-sentence investigator, which was two to eight years with retained jurisdiction. If Waller-Boyd's six months at IDOC go poorly or if she violates probation, she could be ordered to serve the rest of the sentence.

After the hearing, Windju called the situation "sad" and said he was satisfied with Luster's sentence.

Waller-Boyd and her husband, Richard Boyd, are also being sued by Pure Health Solutions and Water Engineering Technologies over the embezzlement.