Guilty Plea in Somerby Golf Club Embezzlement Case
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A former employee accused of stealing about a half-million dollars from the Somerby Golf Club has pleaded guilty.
Court records show 53-year-old Gordon Perkins recently entered into a plea agreement with Olmsted County prosecutors and admitted to five felony counts of theft by swindle. 9 other theft by swindle charges and a felony charge of issuance of dishonored checks were dropped.
The Austin man was charged in March after an investigation conducted by the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office documented thefts from Somerby accounts that began in 2012 and ran through last year that totaled about $500,000. The investigation was launched last year after the general manager of the private golf club in Byron noticed a significant amount of unauthorized charges on Somerby's credit card accounts and confronted Perkins, who was hired as the controller of the golf club's finances near the end of the year in 2011.
The criminal complaint against Perkins says that after he was fired by the general manager, he apologized and provided Somerby with a check written out for $75,000 but the check bounced. The court records alleged the money stolen by Perkins was used for home repairs, living expenses, medical bills, and vacations.
Perkins is scheduled to be sentenced in late November.
News Update: Minnesota 3 Day COVID Testing Total Tops 86,000