Woman is arraigned in alleged Black & Veatch embezzlement

Not guilty pleas were entered Wednesday for a Lee’s Summit woman accused of embezzling more than $300,000 from Black & Veatch.

Patricia Webb, 43, made her initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Kansas City after a grand jury indicted her on six counts of wire fraud.

Webb worked as payroll manager for the engineering firm at the time of the alleged embezzlement.

Attorney P.J. O’Connor pleaded not guilty on behalf of Webb. Her next court appearance was scheduled for May 10.

She is also the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation into the alleged theft of more than $1.2 million from Garmin International, where she worked in the payroll department prior to her employment with Black & Veatch, according to documents filed by federal prosecutors.

No charges have been filed in that case, but prosecutors have filed notice that they are seeking the forfeiture of property that she allegedly obtained illegally.

The alleged Garmin embezzlement was not discovered until authorities began looking into her alleged crimes at Black & Veatch, according to the documents.

Before she worked for Garmin and Black & Veatch, Webb, under the name Patricia Holmes, was prosecuted in Jackson County Circuit Court for forging checks while working at John Knox Village in Lee’s Summit.

Webb was a payroll clerk at John Knox when she was charged with forging two checks totaling $3,347, according to court records.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery in 2012, according to the records, and was placed on probation.

This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Woman is arraigned in alleged Black & Veatch embezzlement."