Woman pleads to grand theft

SANDPOINT — A Ponderay woman accused of gaming her former employer’s credit card charging system to pay personal expenses pleaded guilty Monday to grand theft.

Krysta Rose Finnegan is scheduled to be sentenced in 1st District Court on March 4. She remains free on her own recognizance while the case is pending.

Finnegan, 36, was accused last fall of using her position as a night clerk at the Days Inn motel and her knowledge of its credit card system to reverse customers’ room charges and apply the proceeds to her own credit cards, according to a Ponderay Police report.

All told, Finnegan is accused of embezzling $15,753.29 from Days Inn Worldwide Inc., court records indicate. The thefts were committed between June and September of last year, charging papers say.

Finnegan admitted committing the thefts when she was confronted by Ponderay Police last fall and cooperated with the investigation. Finnegan learned how to reverse credit card charges through the scope of her employment and began using it to her own advantage within a month of her hiring, the police report said.

Finnegan reportedly told police that roughly half of the charges she reversed in her favor were applied to personal debts.

Finnegan gambled the rest at a casino, intending to use the winnings to repay Days Inn.

But those winnings failed to materialize.

Judge Barbara Buchanan accepted Finnegan’s plea as being knowingly and voluntarily entered, court records show.

She faces up to 14 years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000 when she is sentenced.

Sentencing recommendations made by the defense or the state will not be binding upon the court.