Published: July 01, 2009 09:21 am      

NEW – Altoona woman sentenced for bilking Kitanning companies

KITTANNING — A husband and wife will be incarcerated and, combined, must repay $460,000 to two western Pennsylvania companies they bilked where the woman formerly worked as a secretary.

Thirty-three-year-old Kelly Watterson, who now lives in Altoona, was sentenced Tuesday to spend one to two years in the Armstrong County Jail. Twenty-eight-year-old James Watterson was sentenced to five to 10 years in state prison.

Authorities say Kelly Watterson forged checks worth $460,000 from two Kittanning-area businesses, WGM Gas Co. and Walter Houser Coal Co. She’s ordered to repay that amount.

Her husband is jointly responsible for $20,000 of the debt, because he endorsed and cashed checks worth that amount although he was in jail on drug charges during much of the time his wife was stealing.