Former Columbus Packet Advertising Director Aimee Shaw, who was arrested late Saturday night for embezzling from the weekly newspaper, remained in jail this morning.
Columbus Packet founder Roger Larsen said he had been tracking discrepancies in the newspaper”s financial logs since late May, before confronting Shaw for embezzling the funds.
Larsen discovered Shaw was taking cash from the business and trading advertisements for services, he said.
Shaw, 40, worked for the newspaper for about five years prior to the paper changing hands from 18-year owner and founder Roger Larsen to local businessmen Justin Shelton and Colin Krieger.
In addition to advertising, Shaw handled most of the business aspects of the paper.
“I trusted her completely,” Larsen said this morning.
Shaw “was confronted around the first of July,” said Larsen, who gave her an opportunity to pay back part of the funds without facing criminal charges.
“It wouldn”t have been all of it, but we gave her a chance to (settle). We made her an offer,” he said. “She had an attorney decline it.”
Larsen declined to say how much Shaw is accused of embezzling from the business, until the case goes before the grand jury. Felony embezzlement carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison or up to a $25,000 fine.
Larsen made the decision to terminate Shaw, who was fired soon after Krieger took over as publisher and editor of the paper, in mid-June. Shaw previously worked for The Dispatch as a graphic artist from 2001-2005.
Columbus investigators and a Lowndes County sheriff”s deputy executed the warrant for Shaw”s arrest at her 158 Center Road home, off Highway 69 South, at 10:58 p.m. Saturday. A sheriff”s deputy joined Columbus Police Department investigators, since the residence is just outside of the city limits.
While members of the CPD Criminal Investigations Division approached the front door, three investigators made their way around the back of the house where there was a pontoon boat, ski boat and a Jacuzzi.
The sheriff”s deputy transported Shaw to the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center, where she was held until this afternoon, when she posted bond.
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