Harmony woman charged with stealing waives preliminary hearing
BELLEVUE, Allegheny County — A Harmony woman charged with stealing more than $73,000 from her employer waived her preliminary hearing Thursday.
Patricia Lumley, 58, will next be in court on May 15 for a formal arraignment in Pittsburgh. She’s charged with four counts of theft and additional charges of receiving stolen property and access device fraud.
Authorities claim Lumley stole the money starting when she was hired by DeFinis Mechanical Contractors in Bellevue in 2010. They began investigating her after a person hired to replace her noticed accounting discrepancies.
According to police, Lumley paid herself an extra $12,000 during her employment and also spent $47,000 in unauthorized debit card transactions.
She also cashed checks worth more than $6,000 and withdrew nearly $8,000 from automated teller machines.
She waived her case Thursday morning in front of District Judge Tara Smith.