Her fate on the Nebraska drug charges has yet to be determined. (See Almendarez, Ithaca Voice, May 2.) As of publication, she continues her local incarceration on the probation violation. Judge Rowley concurred and ordered her to Tompkins County Jail without bail until a June 24 hearing. "This could very well be considered an act of desperation rather than an act of true criminal intent," Shaw said.Īssistant District Attorney Andrew Bonavia said Dixon should be held without bail. Through her attorney, Karen Shaw, Dixon asked the court to be released on her own recognizance because she has two young children under her care, is employed in the community and has been meeting with her probation officer as required. On May 2, Dixon appeared before Judge Rowley to answer for her probation violations - leaving New York state without permission and engaging in criminal activity by possessing and transporting drugs. By that time Dixon was already being prosecuted for the initial fraud charge. Later, in May 2015, Classen's daughter discovered that Dixon had also been stealing from her. When it became clear to Dixon that her fraud was about to be uncovered, she admitted to Classen that she'd padded her hours. … You just never, ever know what runs through people's minds," Classen said in the Ithaca Journal article. "It was very shocking and very upsetting. She'd started as a home health aide and worked her way up to a trusted administrative assistant. Worse, she knew the employee's system login and password, so no one could prove that she'd modified these transfers - only that she benefited from them.ĭixon had worked for Classen Home Health Care for more than 10 years. (See the disposition and sentencing document.) Dixon often filled in for the payroll processing employees even though she didn't normally work in that department. Dixon managed to transfer $100 from each of her daughter's paychecks to her own savings account at an entirely different bank from April 2012 to May 2015. In the second element of Dixon's larceny, she allegedly redirected deposit amounts from Classen's daughter - also an owner and employee. The company initiated a comprehensive review of payroll records, which determined that Dixon had overreported her time by approximately 2,600 hours and had stolen $31,338 of unearned compensation. Reynolds verified the facts and made his report to Classen Home Health Care owner, Patty Classen. She reported her findings to Timothy Reynolds, director of nursing at Classen. She noticed that two caregivers were claiming the same hours on their time sheets for the same client. Phyllis Joyce, a nurse at the agency, discovered the larceny in October 2014. This all began in early 2012 just after she and her husband separated. Part of Dixon's job at Classen was to compare scheduled work to the hours the employees reported, so she'd simply ask to check the numbers for accuracy and then add a few extra hours for that pay period to her time records. In the first scheme, a classic payroll fraud, she duped her employers into paying her more than she actually worked by padding her timesheet. (See, Ithaca woman who stole 30K from employer sentenced, by Kelsey O'Connor, Ithaca Journal, April 5.)ĭixon had committed two types of fraud. Judge John Rowley of the Tompkins County Court sentenced her to five years of probation and restitution totaling $44,438. On March 18, less than four weeks before the traffic stop, Dixon pleaded guilty to one count of grand larceny in the fourth degree for embezzling nearly $45,000 from her Ithaca employer, Classen Home Health Care Associates. (See, Lots of tears, no bail for Ithaca woman who reportedly had nearly 90 lbs of marijuana, Ithaca Voice, by Jolene Almendarez, May 2.) Her attempt to score a quick buck and turn her life around by muling drugs from the West Coast to Ithaca, New York, had gone hopelessly wrong. She was later charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. The officer pulled her over, discovered a duffel bag containing 90 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $400,000 in her vehicle and arrested her. Irene Dixon was driving on I-80 outside of Lincoln, Nebraska, when she saw the flashing lights of a Lancaster County Sheriff car in her rear-view mirror.
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