Ex-Bellevue Arts Museum official charged

The former chief financial officer of the Bellevue Arts Museum told police that she embezzled $300,000 from the museum because she was going through a separation from her husband and was "financially compromised," according to King County prosecutors.

Janet Ellinger, 53, of Redmond, was charged Tuesday with 38 counts of felony theft for stealing from the museum between October 2005 and April of this year. She worked for the museum for two years before being evicted from the building once the allegations came to light last spring.

Prosecutors say Ellinger stole most of the money by writing checks to herself and then covering them up with fake entries in the museum's financial ledger. She also used her corporate credit card for personal expenses and funneled money through checks made out to her college-age son, who was not involved in the embezzlement, according to charging documents.

Neither Ellinger nor her attorney returned calls seeking comment. Museum officials also did not return calls.

Ellinger has cooperated with police and museum officials and, according to the museum, has returned a small amount of the money.

She is charged with 37 counts of first-degree theft and one count of second-degree theft. If convicted of all the charges, she faces a standard sentence of about 3-½ to five years in prison.

Ellinger and her second husband separated in September 2005, and she filed for divorce in June of this year, a month after she was forced out of her job, according to court documents.

She told police she had a yearly salary of $95,000 but still felt a financial crunch. She spent the stolen money on private-school tuition for her son, vacations, wood floors and cabinets for her home, credit-card bills, mortgage payments and clothes, prosecutors said.

The embezzlement was a blow to the museum, which is still rebuilding after a two-year closure that resulted from low attendance and financial problems.

Since the embezzlement was discovered, the museum has made several improvements to its accounting controls, including a four-person audit committee, better review of the museum's vendors and the requirement of two signatures on all checks.

Museum officials say they did not notice any red flags about Ellinger's performance until another employee noticed something suspicious about the way Ellinger answered a question from the museum's auditors in April.

Museum officials say Ellinger came with good references and experience when she was hired in March 2005.

According to court records, she has no prior criminal history but filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 1994.

Museum leaders say they did not conduct a background check on Ellinger before hiring her, but that a bankruptcy wouldn't necessarily have disqualified her for the job.

Ellinger is scheduled to be arraigned on the theft charges on Nov. 28.

Staff reporter Peyton Whitely contributed to this story.

Ashley Bach: 206-464-2567 or abach@seattletimes.com