By Cathy Ingalls
Albany Democrat-Herald | Posted: Tuesday, December 2, 2008 12:00 am
The former executive officer of the Willamette Valley Home Building Association has been arrested and charged with six counts of theft.
Lori Hickey, 41, of Lebanon is to be arraigned in Linn County Circuit Court at 1:15 p.m. Dec. 10.
Linn County Sheriff's Office Detective Randy Voight arrested her on Nov. 24 and charged her with five counts of aggravated theft and one count of first-degree theft.
"I have nothing to say about the case," Hickey said this morning. "I'm just waiting until my court date."
She does not yet have an attorney and hopes to get a court-appointed attorney at her arraignment.
Hickey said she did not spend any time in jail but was conditionally released because of her poor health. Hickey said she has suffered three heart attacks during the last 18 months and has severe kidney failure.
Mike Goodrich, president of the association, said: "It's hard to tell how much money is missing, but we think about $100,000."
He said Hickey did a good job for the association during her 13 years there, "so this is a sad deal."
At the association, Hickey's duties included overseeing the staff, managing the office, paying bills, doing bookkeeping and managing meetings and events.
Voight said the sheriff's office was called in to investigate the missing money on April 1, 2008.
He said his office was contacted after the home building association had conducted an investigation of its own.
It appears that the money was stolen over a period of years, Voight said.
"There are a lot of things involved in this investigation, and a lot of it has to do with finances and the decisions Lori made," the detective said.
Jenn Smith, who took over for Hickey, said Hickey has not worked at the association since March 2008.
The association, based in Tangent, is a nonprofit trade group made up of builders, utility companies, subcontractors, material suppliers, lending institutions and others whose interest is in the promotion, protection and improvement of the building industry.