Warrant: Woman accused of embezzling $36k from hotel

A Logan County judge has issued a felony warrant for a woman accused of stealing more than $36,000 from a local hotel. The woman in question has a convicted criminal history when it comes to unlawful use of money.

The Guthrie Police Department took the report in October 2013. In the report, a representative for the Holiday Inn Express, located at 2227 E. Oklahoma, says the former employee and her family members falsified time sheets.

The warrant application was signed on Jan. 28.

Melanie Marie Lee, 38, was hired as the general manager on April 15, 2013 and is now being accused of embezzling cash and checks from the deposit in the amount of $27,594.36 during the six months.

According to the report, Lee is accused of giving her brother the pass code to the computer’s system to clock in and out from his home computer as if he had worked at the hotel. Lee is then to believed to have clocked her husband, who worked part-time in maintenance, in and out of work on days that he did not work. Finally, the report indicates that Lee’s son, who also worked part-time, was paid for work that he did not do.

Between the three family members, the hotel states they were falsely paid a combined $8,854.39. Overall, Lee is being accused of embezzling $36,448.75 from the popular hotel chain.

A background check shows Lee has been convicted of seven crimes dating back to March of 1997 to March 2002. The convictions, include uttering a forged instrument (twice), credit card fraud (twice), forgery, stealing by deceit and perjury. The crimes took place in Tulsa, Garfield, Cherokee and Taney County (MO).

According to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Lee has five aliases – Melanie L. Campbell, Melanie M. Hammons, Melanie M. Robertson, Jessica Schrom and Melanie M. Welch.