Arlington woman on paid leave from county due to 2 felony theft convictions

EVERETT — A top administrator in Snohomish County's Public Works Department was placed on paid leave recently after higher-ups learned she had two felony theft convictions — from more than a year earlier.

November 26, 2014 12:14 pm

By Noah Haglund, Herald Writer

EVERETT — A top administrator in Snohomish County’s Public Works Department was placed on paid leave recently after higher-ups learned she had two felony theft convictions — from more than a year earlier.

 

Pam Miller of Arlington contends she informed public works director Steve Thomsen about the criminal case long before pleading guilty in May 2013.

Miller is just over a month shy of her 30-year work anniversary with the county. She earns about $128,000 per year.

The case against Miller involved money stolen from the Washington State Racing Pigeon Organization. The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation in February of 2011, after the pigeon-racing group’s president reported suspicions of embezzling during Miller’s watch as treasurer. When the detective first approached her, Miller requested an attorney.

Miller pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree theft in May 2013. Charging documents state that the theft took place between 2002 and 2011.

Miller received a first-time offender waiver and promptly complied with the conditions of her sentence: paying $10,000 in court-ordered restitution and performing 40 hours of community service.

Like most employers, the county performs criminal background checks on all new hires, human resources director Bridget Clawson said. The county doesn’t routinely check on active employees to see if they’ve had trouble with the law. Instead, they expect employees to come forward on their own.

Miller spent much of her career in the county planning department, where she served as a fire marshal and a division manager. While there, she was one of the employees who helped confront rampant harassment of female employees under former planning director Craig Ladiser. The stress, she said, contributed to her bad judgment. She moved to public works in 2010.

Miller said the case has had no bearing on her performance as an administrative operations manager, where her duties included payroll, grants oversight and internal investigations.

As with other employees, she is entitled to a name-clearing hearing before a final decision is made about her future with the county. Citing personnel policies, Thomsen declined to provide specifics of that process or how the information about her criminal record came to light a “couple of weeks” ago.