Independence Woman Pleads Guilty In Check Forging Scheme

An Independence woman has pleaded guilty to forging checks in a scheme that stole $57,000 from St. Mary’s Hospital of Blue Springs her former employer. 61-year-old Jewell Beem had admitted she altered nearly 50 checks from insurance comanies and deposited them into her and her husband’s checking acount. Beem worked in the business office at St. Mary’s between March of 1999 and May of 2002. She will be sentenced later.