Woman charged with embezzling

Alicia Eunice Napier, an office manager for Palouse Urology, has been charged with embezzling more than $500,000 from the practice.

Napier was indicted by a federal grand jury last Wednesday on 48 counts of mail and bank fraud. She was arrested Friday and released on her own recognizance Tuesday by U.S. Magistrate Cynthia Imbrogno.

If convicted, she faces a potential 30 years and fines of $1 million or more. The indictment includes a 49th count seeking forfeiture of all property obtained with money as a result of the fraud counts.

A plea of not guilty was entered on her behalf by the court.

Napier is charged with embezzling $532,985.20 from Palouse Urology between February 1998 and September 16, 2009.

According to the indictment, she was entrusted with paying the practice’s bills. She convinced one of the principals to pre-sign hundreds of corporate checks for that purpose but made them payable to herself or her creditors. She also had the ability to make charges on the principal’s personal credit cards, to which she charged some expenses of her business, Creative Memories Consultant.

The embezzlement was discovered during a Sept. 10 creditors meeting in the bankruptcy filing of Alicia Napier and her husband, Tony Napier. She was unable to explain why her personal expenses were being paid with checks from Palouse Urology.

The Colfax couple is also facing civil charges of equity skimming filed last January in Spokane County Superior Court.