A Stockholm woman is accused of embezzling more than $200,000 from the Bay City area business where she worked.

Bryoni Lynn Eggenberger, 54, posted a $25,000 signature bond in Pierce County Circuit Court Oct. 14 on a felony theft – business setting > $100,000 charge. If convicted, the maximum penalty is 12.5 years in prison and/or fines up to $25,000.

According to the complaint:

On Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, the owner of Brownseed Genetics (N1279 530^th St., town of Isabelle) called police at 8:33 a.m. to report an employee for embezzling money from his business accounts for the past nine months. At the time, he had discovered about $37,000 missing. The owner said Eggenberger would be fired that day at 9 a.m. and asked for an officer to be present.

Officers spoke to Eggenberger, the business owner and a Certified Public Accountant, who told police Eggenberger had been in charge of the business payroll. They found out Eggenberger had been issuing herself inflated paychecks, as well as other payments unauthorized by the business owner. The accountant gave police detailed documentation of all the unauthorized transactions paid to Eggenberger’s account.

Eggenberger was visibly upset and crying and she admitted culpability. She told officers she had a gambling problem and was stealing money from the company to support it. She said she’d issue herself additional payments above and beyond the wages she normally receives.

Officers didn’t take her into custody at that time but forwarded the case to the Pierce County District Attorney’s office for review.

On Dec. 14, 2023, officers conducted an in-person interview with Eggenberger at the sheriff’s office with her consent. She said she was stressed out with her mother being sick and financial burdens, so she started gambling and things got out of control. She said she started transferring money into her account as she had access to it. This began in the summer of 2022 when she took over the payroll position (she previously owned Gelly’s Too in Stockholm).

Under questioning, she admitted to using company credit cards as well for things such as shopping, traveling to Texas, and ordering things online while she was at her desk. She had memorized the credit card number so she could use it elsewhere too.

Officers had her go through a list of company credit card transactions and mark the purchases that were for her personal use. When asked to estimate how much she spent, she thought about $1,000 in gambling per week at the casino and bars.

When asked if she had ever stolen money from anyone else, she began sobbing and admitted to signing one of her son’s checks once.  

Eggenberger also told police that when she took over the office work from the previous employee (who retired), she was supposed to take care of the business’ taxes but didn’t understand how to do them, so she got behind in paying them. She said she planned to get another job and pay her former employer back.

In June 2024, police completed their investigation and determined Eggenberger had issued $44,378.63 in unauthorized payments to her personal bank account from the company’s accounts. The investigation revealed Eggenberger had spent $115,150.94 on the business’ Capital One credit card and $44,029.67 on the Williams Sonoma card. She had also used pre-signed checks to write checks to herself for a total of $11,386.13 and pretended to void a check for ripping, but later wrote it out to herself for $1,236.97. In the memo line, she wrote “sat meal, gas, parts.”

The business owner said he’d learned that Capital One had written him a letter advising him of potential fraudulent activity, but Eggenberger had intercepted it and thrown it away. He also learned Eggenberger had not been making the tax payments and he owed $22,119.55 in penalties to the IRS.

In all, the amount Eggenberger is accused of stealing totals $214,945.40.

Her next court appearance is a preliminary hearing set for 2 p.m. Nov. 18.