Casey J. Tinnel's alleged embezzlement drills hole in Indiana dentist's account - practice sued in small claims; prior felony cases on record
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The Lake County prosecutor's office charged Casey J. Tinnel of Valparaiso, Indiana this week with embezzling thousands of dollars from a Merrillville dental business.
Casey J. Tinnel named in court charge
Prosecutors named Tinnel, 28, an office manager for Advance Dental Care of Merrillville, in a Lake Criminal court charge. They allege Tinnel was responsible for depositing customers' payments in the business bank account, but kept some money for her own use and covered up the shortage.
Update: No Criminal Case — But the Practice Sued, and There Were Prior Felony Cases
Indiana’s statewide court records show no criminal prosecution arising from the dental embezzlement allegations. Instead, the practice pursued civil recovery: Wadas Dental Center vs. Casey Tinnel was filed in Porter County small claims court in October 2008 and decided in October 2009, and the practice had brought a related small-claims action as early as 2006.
The records also show two earlier felony prosecutions of Casey Jayne Tinnel in Lake County — a Class C felony case for fraud on a financial institution and theft, and a Class D felony case for theft and conversion — both filed in 2004–2005 and decided on September 7, 2005; the specific dispositions are held by the Lake County clerk. For practice owners, the pattern is the familiar one: a records check before hiring would have surfaced the earlier cases.
Source: Indiana MyCase — party-name search results
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