Did Theft Spell End for IP/Koke?

EUGENE, OR—An ex-bookkeeper of a now-defunct printing company faces upwards of 100 felony counts for allegedly bilking the firm of more than $1.5 million, an act that may have contributed to its demise.

Victoria Marie Monfore faces 58 felony counts of aggravated first-degree theft, 18 counts of identity theft and 12 first-degree theft charges in connection with an accounting scam that may have spelled the end of IP/Koke Printing, the Eugene (OR) Register-Guard reported. Monfore is accused of embezzling more than $1.5 million between August of 2003 and June 2009.

She reportedly forged company checks and made them payable to herself.

Though IP/Koke Printing closed its doors in December of 2008, Monfore—the accounts payable clerk—continued working for CEO Jason Pierce and his Pierce Family of Companies, a publishing firm that produces print and online catalogs for buyers and sellers of heavy equipment, trucks and trailers, the paper reported.

Pierce told the Register-Guard that his company was "destroyed from within" and speculated that, absent the thefts, IP/Koke would still be in business.