By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A Shelby County Circuit Court judge has frozen the assets of a 45-year-old Alabaster woman who is facing charges alleging she embezzled more than $300,000 from her Alabaster employer.

The Alabaster Police Department arrested Rebecca Ann Norton on Aug. 14 and charged her with one felony count of first-degree theft of property and three felony counts of second-degree possession of a forged instrument.

According to her arrest warrants, Norton allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from an Alabaster-based company between August 2013 and August of this year.

Before Norton’s arrest, the company filed a civil suit against Norton, claiming while working as a bookkeeper at the company, she “engaged in unauthorized fraudulent and inappropriate purchases or disbursements from company bank accounts” while representing herself as the company’s president and the president’s brother.

“These purchases included personal electronic purchases, vacations, vehicles, clothing and various other items,” read the most recent civil complaint filed by the company on Aug. 31.

The company also claimed Norton wired money from the company’s bank account to her personal account, and claimed she wrote checks “to herself and acquaintances.”

“(The company) first learned of these fraudulent transactions on August 4, 2015, after reviewing a bank statement prior to Norton having the opportunity to reconcile the account,” read the complaint.

The company is seeking compensatory and punitive damages against Norton, and asked Circuit Court Judge Corey B. Moore to freeze Norton’s bank accounts and issue a restraining order preventing the suspect from selling any items or property or from altering or destroying any records from Aug. 5, 2013, through the present.

Moore granted a temporary restraining order granting the company’s requests.

On Aug. 20, Norton, through her attorney, requested Moore dismiss or postpone hearings in the civil court case until her criminal charges are resolved.

Norton has remained in the Shelby County Jail on bonds totaling $500,000 since her Aug. 14 arrest. In a bond recommendation request, the District Attorney’s Office claimed more charges may come against Norton in the future, and claimed the suspect would be a flight risk if released from jail.

On Aug. 25, Norton’s attorney requested the suspect’s bond be reduced, claiming Norton suffers from significant medical issues, and claiming Norton does not have access to funds cited in the District Attorney’s Office bond recommendation.

Norton’s attorneys also requested the suspect’s bond be lowered to allow her to prepare her defense in the civil case.

Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves is scheduled to rule on the bond reduction request during a Sept. 9 hearing at 8:30 a.m. in the Shelby County Courthouse.