Woman charged for allegedly stealing over $60,000 from local doctors office

IDAHO FALLS — A 38-year-old Idaho Falls woman is facing a felony charge after she allegedly stole over $60,000 from a company she previously worked for.

Shasta Hansen has been charged with felony grand theft. The case was filed against her on Tuesday.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by the Idaho Falls Police Department, a doctor from a local plastic surgery office reported a grand theft involving Hansen, a former employee. He alleged over the last three years, Hansen had stolen funds in excess of $60,000.

One of the office managers became aware of the situation in March while reconciling the previous day’s payment records. She noticed Hansen’s last patient’s payment wasn’t recorded, court documents say. The office manager contacted the patient and asked about her treatments and the details surrounding her payment.

The patient said she had paid Hansen $1,500 in cash. The office manager checked the cash drawer, and none of the money was inside.

She said she was later able to reach Hansen, who said that she had taken $600 in cash from the patient and that she may have it with her or it may be in her desk.

After speaking with Hansen, the officer manager searched Hansen’s desk, including the drawers but did not locate any money, invoice, or receipt. She said when Hansen returned to the office, she began going through her desk drawers and “pretended” to remove $600 cash from the desk. The office manager said she saw Hansen take the cash out from her purse.

After telling the doctor, the doctor and office manager both made a decision to confront her about the money. Hansen admitted to taking money on four or five occasions. She apologized and agreed to provide them with a list of patients she had stolen money from.

Following the meeting, Hansen apologized to the office manager and said she had a lot of “personal things going on” that she had stolen the money because she “wasn’t being paid her commissions.” Hansen later returned $900.

Hansen was terminated from the company in March.

During the investigation, documents say a patient had bought a treatment package through Hansen. Looking at a receipt, it showed that the package was paid for through an online Square account.

In May, Hansen came into the office and when she was confronted about the Square account, she admitted to having charged patients’ credit cards using her personal Square account. She provided five duplicate receipts detailing payments she said she had taken from patients totaling $3,415.

A company iPad had been issued to Hansen when she worked at the office and on it was Hansen’s Square account profile. The profile showed dozens of payments made to the account.

Upon investigation, the officer looked at records and found there were transactions made and the combined total was $64,026.38.

“I requested an interview with Hansen, but my request was declined,” the officer wrote in documents.

The officer requested a warrant for Hansen’s arrest for grand theft and restitution was additionally requested. The charge is punishable in prison by up to 14 years, a $5,000 fine and restitution.

She had an initial court appearance on Thursday and was given a $25,000 bond. She has since posted it. She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 28 at 1 p.m. in the Bonneville County courthouse.