A 37-year-old Longview woman who allegedly stole more than $30,000 from her employer, Papa Pete’s Pizza in Ridgefield, made a first appearance Friday in Clark County Superior Court.
Jaime Lynn Mosser faces a single allegation of first-degree theft. Judge Gregory Gonzales allowed Mosser to remain out of custody on supervised release. Her arraignment was set for Aug. 24.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the owner of Papa Pete’s Pizza reported Aug. 2 that the general manager of the Ridgefield store didn’t show up for work the day prior, and nightly cash deposits hadn’t been deposited as recorded on the business’ paperwork.
The owner further discovered that no deposits had been made for nearly the entire month of July. The total amount of the missing deposits was $30,510, according to the affidavit.
Ridgefield police questioned an assistant manager about the money. He said he only deposited cash from the pizza restaurant on two occasions, July 30 and 31. Those deposits were received by the bank, according to the affidavit.
When police informed the assistant manager that his signature was on paperwork for additional deposits, he said Mosser insisted on taking the cash to the bank herself, even showing up on her days off just before closing time to pick it up, according to the affidavit.
The assistant manager said he “thought this was odd, but (Mosser) insisted she would deposit the monies on her way home,” the affidavit says.
Police had a hard time locating Mosser, who was not answering phone calls, so they decided to call her sister, who reported that someone had found Mosser unresponsive in a hotel room due to a methadone overdose. She’d been taken to a hospital in Longview, where law enforcement officers were able to locate her, according to the affidavit.
On Thursday, police interviewed Mosser. She said she took the deposits from Papa Pete’s but did not remember what she did with them, as she was suffering from memory loss. When she was informed that many of the previous month’s deposits were missing, Mosser continued to insist she didn’t know what happened to them, according to the affidavit.
Ridgefield police decided to forward the case to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office with the information on hand.
Investigators believe “Mosser used the money for her own use. (Mosser) was the last person known to have the monies in her possession due to her insistence on depositing the monies,” the affidavit says.
Court records show Mosser lacks a criminal record.
