By Aaron Vehling

Former Stacy city councilwoman Katie Davidson, who resigned in January because of a theft by swindle charge in Ramsey County, appeared in Anoka County court June 6 to plead guilty to another charge involving criminal use of checks.

Davidson pleaded guilty to one count of offering a forged check in excess of $2,500, said Anoka County Assistant Attorney Michelle Davis.

The Anoka charge stems from an incident involving Davidsonís accounting work with Hair Update and Tanning in Centerville from 2000-2004.

The amount of money deemed stolen varies by source. In the criminal complaint, the accountant for Hair Update owner Katie Erickson estimated the unauthorized check value at $32,000 and Tom Strusinski, a detective with the Anoka County Criminal Investigation Division, said he had seen a total of $14,000 in unauthorized checks.

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The criminal complaint described the events as follows:

Davidson was hired to do the bookkeeping for then-owner Erickson in exchange for hairstyling services for Davidson and her family.

On January 13, 2003, Erickson received a call from her bank, US Bank, warning her of a possible fraudulent check for $9,967.41 made out to the Minnesota Project of St. Paul, Davidsonís former employer.

Erickson put a stop on the check and confronted Davidson about it. Davidson, who had permission to write and sign corporate checks for the salon, started crying and told Erickson she wrote the check to pay back money she had taken from the Minnesota Project.

On Jan. 14, 2004 Strusinski took a taped statement from Erickson regarding the incident.

Erickson told Strusinski that Davidson received all bills and kept all paperwork at her residence in Stacy and that Davidson was authorized to write herself a monthly check of $150 as payment for the bookkeeping. Erickson had known Davidson for about 10 years.

At 10 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2004 a meeting was arranged between Erickson and Davidson at Perkins in Forest Lake and Erickson was fitted with a recording wire with the hope that Davidson would explain the reasoning behind her actions. Strusinski and another detective sat in the parking lot during the meeting.

Strusinski learned after the meeting that the tape failed to record anything, but he did take notes of the conversation.

Erickson asked Davidson why she wrote the forged checks. Davidson told her she was mentally unstable at the time and did not remember a lot of what happened. She admitted to using the money from Ericksonís business to pay off her former employer, the Minnesota Project, with which she had charges pending at the time for writing fraudulent checks in 2002.

Davidson continually apologized during the conversation for her actions.

Strusinski reviewed copies of unauthorized checks written on Ericksonís business account from Jan. 8, 2000 to Sept. 17, 2002, which totaled about $14,000. Additionally, Erickson signed an Affidavit of Forgery on Jan. 31, 2003 concerning another check, dated June 15, 2002, in the amount of $3,501.54, which was signed with a forgery of her signature.

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On Dec. 8, 2004 Davidson pleaded guilty to theft by swindle in Ramsey County court for depositing a check for $9,967.41 into her own account instead of into the account of her employer, the non-profit Minnesota Project.

At the time, Davidson told the Chisago County Press that the Anoka County case was an issue of providing assistance to someone in need.

Anoka County assistant attorney Michelle Davis said restitution was not determined on June 6 and is left open until the sentencing hearing, which is tentatively scheduled for early August.

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