PORT ANGELES — Rhonda Goudie may have the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to thank for not receiving a harsher sentence.
Five months after the former assisted-living facility owner was found guilty of stealing $7,000 from a tenant, Clallam County Superior Court Judge Ken Williams on Wednesday partially overturned her conviction after the prosecution concluded it had overcharged the 45-year-old Port Angeles resident.
Goudie was convicted of two counts of first-degree theft for overcharging Truman Curry and one count of money laundering for depositing the checks into a bank account.
Williams acquitted Goudie of four other counts of theft because of a lack of evidence.
Charge not justified
County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly said she found, after reviewing case law, that the money laundering charge wasn’t justified.
Goudie’s conviction of two counts of first-degree theft stood, and moments after dropping money laundering from her conviction, Williams sentenced her to three months of electronic home monitoring and 240 hours of community service.
Previously, Goudie faced a maximum sentence of nine months in jail. That was lowered to six months’ confinement after the partial dismissal.
Her sentence is being appealed.
Kelly said her office should have charged Goudie only with theft because stealing the money and depositing it into a bank account were done in the same act.
That’s because Curry’s checks were deposited straight into the account.
“The irony of it is, if she shoved the check across the counter and got cash for it and then shoved the cash into the account, under that case, that would have been money laundering,” Kelly said.
Kelly said she took over the case a few months ago after the former deputy prosecuting attorney assigned to it left the office.
Filed motion
Karen Unger, Goudie’s attorney, had filed a motion to dismiss the money-laundering conviction on the basis of double jeopardy.
Unger said the decision shows that the double jeopardy claim was justified.
“It [the money-laundering charge] should have never been filed,” she said.
Unger said she filed for an appeal of the theft convictions because she doesn’t think there was enough evidence to prove Goudie was the one who got Curry, who has since died, to write multiple rent checks for the same months.
Police said Curry made six overpayments to Goudie’s facility, Olympic RN Homecare of Port Angeles.
A hearing will be held today to determine if carrying out her sentence should be delayed until the appeal is resolved.
________
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.