Judge Elgee known to be tough on white-collar crime
BY TERRY SMITH
A criminal case involving the alleged theft of more than $130,000 by a former employee of the City of Sun Valley is now under the purview of Judge Robert J. Elgee, who is known to take a hard line on white-collar crime. In two recent employee theft cases, both involving women, Elgee rejected arguments for leniency and sentenced the defendants to prison.
In 2013, Elgee, the presiding judge in Blaine County 5th District Court, sentenced former Sun Valley Investments employee Tracy Dalin to up to six years in prison for stealing from the company. Also in 2013, Elgee gave former Farm Bureau employee Judith Shurtz a prison sentence of four years and eight months for stealing from Farm Bureau.
Both women have now been released on parole.
In the current Sun Valley case, former city treasurer Angela Marlene (Domke) Orr, 31, faces up to 33 years in prison if convicted of the three felony charges filed against her in July.
Orr is charged with two counts of “misuse of public funds” by an employee in excess of $300, a crime punishable in Idaho by up to 14 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. State law also requires a minimum one-year prison sentence upon conviction.
She is also charged with a third felony of “misuse of public funds” by an employee of less than $300. That crime is punishable in Idaho by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
Orr’s case was considered at a preliminary hearing in Blaine County Magistrate Court on Aug. 23. At the conclusion of the hearing, Magistrate Judge Daniel P. Dolan determined that enough evidence exists against Orr to transfer the case to the higher district court for further prosecution.
Arraignment before Judge Elgee is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Sept. 12.
Orr, who had served as Sun Valley treasurer since 2012, is accused in court documents of illegally transferring more than $127,500 from a City of Sun Valley bank account to her own personal account in numerous transactions in 2015 and 2016. She is also accused of illegally using a city credit card for personal use in multiple transactions in 2015 and 2016, accruing expenditures of more than $2,500.
The case was investigated by Sun Valley Police Chief Walt Femling, who wrote in a probable cause affidavit that he started his investigation on March 30 after being contacted by Sun Valley City Administrator Susan Robertson regarding suspicions that Orr was stealing money. Orr resigned as treasurer on April 7.
An arrest warrant was issued on July 6 and Orr, who, according to court documents, had been out of Idaho, voluntarily surrendered at the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 8.
She has remained incarcerated since her arrest in the Blaine County jail. Bond, initially set in the arrest warrant at $200,000, was reduced to $20,000 at Orr’s initial court appearance on
Aug. 9.
Hailey attorney Christopher Simms was court appointed as public defender.
Idaho judiciary rules, as defined by the Idaho Supreme Court, provide that a defendant in a felony case can disqualify a district court judge “without cause” from hearing a case by filing a motion with the court within 14 days of when the defense was informed of who the judge would be. However, according to court records, no such disqualification motion was filed against Elgee in the 14-day timeframe that started with the conclusion of the preliminary hearing on Aug. 23.
Tracy Dalin
Dalin, now 54, was sentenced on March 4, 2013, to a two-year determinate and four-year indeterminate prison sentence by Elgee after pleading guilty earlier to one felony count of grand theft by embezzlement and a second felony count of forgery. According to the Idaho Department of Correction, she was released on parole on July 10, 2015. Her sentence is scheduled to end on March 2, 2019.
Dalin was originally charged with eight felonies but pleaded guilty to only two in accord with a plea agreement with the Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Dalin had been accused of conducting complex theft schemes that included forged duplication of bank statements and juggling of funds in accounts to hide the thefts from Sun Land Investments, where she was employed as a secretary and real estate agent until leaving the company in 2009. She was also accused of embezzling funds from Sun Land Investments owner Judy Cash and from Cash’s close friend Ron Farwell, whose finances Dalin managed.
Blaine County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Fredback said at sentencing that the thefts, allegedly totaling about $500,000, occurred over a seven-year period.
An investigation, conducted by the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office, was started in 2009 and lasted about two and a half years. Dalin was charged with the crimes in 2011.
Because the amount stolen was disputed, and because evidence indicated that some of the money had been repaid, Dalin agreed to pay only $75,000 in restitution.
At the time of sentencing, Dalin was working as a home economics teacher at Bliss High School. Elgee rejected a defense plea that Dalin be placed on probation or allowed to serve her time in the Gooding County jail with work release allowed so that she could continue teaching. Instead, in imposing the prison sentence, he described Dalin’s crimes as “sophisticated” and “staggering.”
Judith Shurtz
Shurtz, now 64, was sentenced to a 20-month determinate and three-year indeterminate prison sentence by Elgee on April 29, 2013. She had pleaded guilty earlier to grand theft by embezzlement for illegally writing about $35,000 in checks to herself on a Farm Bureau account.
According to the Idaho Department of Correction, Shurtz was released to parole on Dec. 28, 2014. Her sentence is scheduled to end on Dec. 27, 2017.
Shurtz was employed as a secretary for Farm Bureau in Bellevue from 2006 through 2010. Fredback said at sentencing that during her employment Shurtz wrote 92 unauthorized checks to herself over a five-year period. Fredback said further that Shurtz “created fraudulent” bank statements to hide the thefts.
Following a complaint by Farm Bureau, the case was investigated by the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office. Shurtz was charged with embezzlement in 2011.
In a victims’ statement presented at sentencing, Farm Bureau reported that the thefts had adversely affected 460 local families who are Farm Bureau members.
Former Ketchum attorney Daniel P. Dolan, now known as Judge Daniel P. Dolan, represented Shurtz as public defender prior to his appointment to the bench. Dolan requested at sentencing that Shurtz be placed on probation so that she could pay back the money she had stolen. He further argued that the women’s prison system was overcrowded and that Shurtz would not get the treatment she needed.
Nonetheless, Elgee imposed the prison sentence, noting that the thefts occurred over a long period of time and that the “degree of punishment” is related to the “degree of harm” to the numerous victims.