Scheets worked as the office manager and dental assistant for her father, Dr. Glen Schuster, at his dental practice in Houston. As the office manager, Scheets handled Schuster’s finances, including the accounts payable and receivable for both the dental practice and his horse farm near Houston.

Scheets admitted that, posing as Schuster, she mailed four certificates of deposit belonging to Schuster to Guaranty Bank in Springfield, with letters instructing the bank to negotiate or “cash out” the CDs. Investigators said Scheets drafted the letters to appear as if they had been written by Schuster; she typed one of the letters on Schuster’s professional letterhead, and forged Schuster’s name on the signature line of both letters, all without Schuster’s knowledge or permission.

The letters instructed the bank to deduct taxes and penalties as a result of negotiating the CDs prematurely, then send the proceeds to Schuster’s dental office.

The bank mailed four separate checks, totaling $31,119, to Schuster’s dental office. Scheets intercepted the checks, forged Schuster’s signature on the back of each check, and deposited them into the one of Schuster’s business bank accounts. Scheets admitted she then withdrew funds from the accounts to which she was not entitled.

The government believes Scheets stole more than $200,000 from Schuster’s business accounts; the exact amount of funds is disputed and will be decided by the judge at Scheets’ sentencing hearing.

Under federal statutes, Scheets faces a sentence up to 20 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000 and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.