BY PORTSIA SMITH

A Louisa County woman is facing charges after her employer suspected she was stealing money from the company.
Employees at Biomass Energy, a wood pellet production and supply company in Bumpass, “discovered some discrepancies” involving shipments of wood to the business, said Detective Scott Renalds of the Louisa Sheriff’s Office.
Karen Devin Miller, 42, of Bumpass was the scale-house attendant at Biomass, and recorded deliveries from outside companies that got paid for bringing in raw wood. Trucks come to the scale house to be weighed, which determines how much they are paid, Renalds said.
But when the amount of money and the amount of products didn’t match up, Renalds said, Biomass workers turned their suspicions over to the Sheriff’s Office last month.
  According to an investigation by Louisa Detective Mark Stanton, Miller recorded deliveries from companies that do not exist.
“There are records of numerous phantom  loads of timber being logged as incoming and exiting through the scalehouse where Ms. Miller was the primary employee logging loads in and out and recording their weight,” he wrote in an affidavit.
Renalds said Biomass is still trying to figure out the full amount of money lost, but that it has the potential to be as much as  $200,000.
Miller is charged with 10 counts of grand larceny and seven counts of obtaining money by false pretenses for offenses that range from January 2010 to September 2011.
She was released on her own recognizance and has a court appearance scheduled  for Feb. 9 in Louisa County General District Court.
Portsia Smith:  540/374-5419
psmith@fredericksburg.com