Store manager charged with embezzlement

PALMER -- A Wasilla woman was charged Wednesday with 26 felony counts related to allegations she embezzled nearly $14,000 over a three-month period from One Stop Travel & Tanning.

Sherrie L. Fragnoli, 48, was charged with 13 counts of falsifying business records, 10 counts of second-degree theft and three counts of third-degree theft.

Fragnoli was manager of One Stop Travel & Tanning at 500 N. Main in Wasilla when the embezzling allegedly occurred.

Wasilla police were initially involved as the result of an investigation Nov. 6 into a reported burglary at the shop. Officer Rick Manrique reported in an affidavit accompanying charging documents that he found the scene highly suspicious. A total of $1,150 had been stolen from a paper envelope in a stack of envelopes. Some money was taken and some left behind, without the typical evidence of a building search or things in disarray, Manrique wrote.

A further look into the daily operations revealed daily deposit slips were short, and the person likely responsible was the shop's manager.

A subsequent audit by Sramek Hightower CPA concluded $13,658.77 was embezzled between July 31 and Oct. 14, 2001.

The audit also determined that the suspect in daily handwritten sales logs had been "lapping" the books to cover the thefts in cash, which means postponing payments listed in the records to conceal the shortage. The person then deferred writing down the cash receipts of a third customer to a few days later, court records contend.

A total of 13 thefts were identified by the independent audit. In January, Manrique interviewed the president of One Stop Travel. Greg Todd said Fragnoli had been manager of the Wasilla shop for 10 years. He reportedly had met with Fragnoli in early December and showed her the discrepancies, which then amounted to $12,454. She had agreed to pay back the shortages but admitted to no wrong-doing.

Todd also had moved Fragnoli to a supervised position at the Eagle River office, and expressed concern that seven people who made purchases never received their tickets at the Wasilla location. One Stop Travel had to cover the losses, he told police.

Fragnoli was interviewed June 27 by Manrique at the Wasilla Police station. She reportedly said her husband has terminal cancer and under the pressure of possibly losing their home, she began to take the money but always with the intention of paying it back. She disputed that the amount could be so high.

Her husband reportedly has not worked for the past three years while struggling with cancer. She has repaid $2,328.48 to One Stop Travel, she allegedly told police. Fragnoli said the entire embezzlement started out as an attempt to cover her bills and keep her home from being foreclosed on.

Fragnoli is scheduled for an Aug. 13 arraignment in Palmer Superior Court.