BUSINESS LAW
7-5A. White Collar Crime. Helm Instruction Co. in Maumee, Ohio, makes custom electrical control systems. In September 1998, Helm hired Patrick Walsh to work as comptroller. Walsh soon developed a close relationship with Richard Wilhelm, Helm’s president, who granted Walsh’s request to hire Shari Price as an assistant. Wilhelm was not aware that Walsh and Price were engaged in a extramarital affair. Over the next five years, Walsh and Price spent more than $200,000 of Helm’s money on themselves. Among other things, Walsh drew unauthorized checks on Helm’s accounts to pay his personal credit cards and issued to Price and himself unauthorized salary increases, overtime payments, and tuition reimbursement payments, altering Helm’s records to hide the payments. After an investigation, Helm officials confronted Walsh. He denied the affair with Price, claimed that his unauthorized use of Helm’s funds was an “interest-free loan,” and argued that it was less of a burden on the company to pay his credit cards than to give him the salary increases to which he felt he was entitled. Did Walsh commit a crime? If so, what crime did he commit? Discuss. [State v. Walsh, 113 Ohio App. 3d 1515, 866 N.E.2d 513 (6 Dist. 2007)]
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