January 24, 2018
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
An Elk City woman had her initial appearance in Beckham County District Court Tuesday after being charged on three counts of embezzling over $350-thousand dollars from the accounts of three children placed into her custody.
50-year-old Sonya Rane Lasater was released from jail last Friday on a $10-thousand dollar bond.
The mother of the three children tragically died in a 2007 car accident and two years later, the underage children received a lawsuit settlement from their mother’s estate.
According to a probable cause affidavit, in 2009, a little less than $400-thousand dollars was placed equally into three separate court-ordered trust accounts for the children’s usage when there were of legal age.
One of the children came to the Elk City police department in November of last year reporting that about $116-thousand dollars was missing from her account. Days later, the other two siblings reported missing money in each of their accounts as well. One account had only $541-dollars left.
All three told investigators that they suspected a woman they referred to as their aunt, Sonya Lasater, and that they had initially trusted her because she was their family.
By Lasater’s own admission and acknowledgment, she told police she had withdrawn about $330-thousand dollars by writing checks to herself or cash withdrawals and depositing the money into her own bank account.
The court document says she allegedly admitted to personally spending a large amount of the money gambling at a casino and by purchasing vehicles for the children without using the money for its intended purpose.
The total amount of money allegedly embezzled amounts to at least $388-thousand dollars, however, the specific amounts from each bank account is still under investigation.
Lasater is due back in district court for a preliminary hearing on April 10.
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