BREMERTON — A Kingston woman was arrested on Jan. 5 for forging checks from a near-blind Bremerton woman she was caring for.
Diane Lee Ellyson, 46, is charged with three counts forgery and one count second-degree theft; she was booked into the Kitsap County Jail at $100,000 bail.
According to the Bremerton Police Department report, Ellyson was hired two yeas ago by Elizabeth Bakeman for cleaning services. Ellyson later served as an aide for Bakeman, and when Bakeman began losing her sight, Ellyson offered to help write checks for her bills.
Bakeman’s daughter-in-law, Robin Inch, reviewed Bakeman’s three checking accounts and discovered “several suspicious transactions and altered checks.” She found the carbon copies which had different amounts than the hard copy that was cashed, which Ellyson is alleged to have added digits to increase the amounts throughout 2011.
Bakeman also reported that $200,000 worth of jewelry, insured at $50,000, went missing on or around Oct. 29, 2011 and was stolen by Ellyson.
Ellyson went to Bremerton Police Department voluntarily, where she denied the allegations. A CVSA polygraph indicated she was lying.
Ellyson was previously arrested in August 1995 for first-degree theft, in August 2000 for felony unlawful inssuance of bank checks, and in January 2006 for two counts of first-degree theft.
She will appear in District Court Jan. 19 at 8:30 a.m.