A public defender is assigned to represent a former bookkeeper accused of embezzling $387,000 from the Key Royale Club Inc. in Holmes Beach.
Holly Elaine Connelly, 29, received a public defender after declaring indigent status.
Connelly’s application for criminal indigent status, which needed approval from the court before a public defender was assigned to her case, indicates that she has three dependents and no income. The application also states that Connelly has no assets — no cash, no bank accounts, no certificates of deposit or money market funds and no equity in tangible property.
The application indicates her residency is Dunedin, but other court papers list her address in Bradenton.
Connelly, who worked at the golf club from June 2008 to April 2011, is scheduled for arraignment Sept. 2 in Manatee County Circuit Court on one count of scheming to defraud in excess of $50,000, a first-degree felony.
She was arrested July 27 after a lengthy investigation by the Holmes Beach Police Department, with cooperation from the state attorney’s office. The investigation involved reviewing financial records of the private club — which operates the Island’s only golf course — going back to 2008.
Connelly, according to court papers filed by the state attorney’s office, “did unlawfully engage in a scheme constituting of systematic, ongoing course of conduct with intent to defraud one or more persons or with intent to obtain property for one or more persons by false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises or willful misrepresentations of a future act, and so obtained property from Key Royale Country Club of an aggregate value of $50,000 or more.”
An HBPD report summed up the allegation against Connelly, stating that while she worked as an office administrator at the Key Royale Club, Connelly “falsely represented the amount of money within the victim’s accounts.”
Connelly also allegedly wrote checks to herself from Key Royale accounts, forged the checks and deposited them into her bank account.
HBPD Detective Michael Leonard investigated the case, including securing records and images from Wachovia Bank branches. His report stated that the Key Royale Club president “has identified the person depositing the forged and uttered checks as the defendant.”
Leonard also noted that Connelly consistently “refused to return phone calls to this agency and has not answered when I have attempted contact at her residence.”
Connelly, as of Islander press time, remained at the Manatee County jail, with her bond set at $50,000. The state attorney’s office has requested that before the court releases Connelly on bond it hold a hearing to discuss whether the proffered funds “may be linked to or derived from the crime alleged to have been committed.”
If convicted, Connelly faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
Let me see if I have got this right. This lady worked for the Golf Club for just less than 3 years – 34 months to be exact. And in that time she is alleged to have embezzled $387,000 or just more than $10,000 each month. My only question is who was watching from the Golf Club?