A former employee of a local rental business who embezzled thousands of dollars from a utility company she was supposed to collect payments for has begun serving a prison sentence.

Rosemary Duggins Wiggington, 34, of 686 Casstevens Road in the Beulah community, received an active term of six to eight months after pleading guilty to 10 counts of embezzlement in a recent session of Surry County Superior Court in Dobson.

In addition to the prison time and other terms, Wiggington was ordered to pay $40,922 in restitution to Duke Energy Corp. during the next five years.

The case came to light in the spring of 2008 when accountants at Duke Energy noted discrepancies regarding money received at Leisure Tyme Rentals on West Pine Street. That business serves as a local payment center for Duke Energy, which has no business office here.

At the time, Wiggington was a Leisure Tyme employee whose duties included accepting monthly payments from customers for their electric bills.

After Duke Energy representatives discovered that funds forwarded from Leisure Tyme did not match amounts that were billed, the Mount Airy Police Department launched an investigation. This led to Wiggington being arrested on July 23 on 10 felony counts of embezzlement for wrongdoing said to have occurred in March.

Word of the arrest, which affected accounts of about 50 area residents, caused worries among customers who wondered whether payments they submitted were properly credited. However, a spokesman for the company in Charlotte has said that customers would not lose any money as a result of Wiggington’s actions.

A city detective who led the probe initially said that the losses from the scheme totaled $37,890, but the amount was expected to increase as more facts were uncovered, evidenced by the final restitution figure exceeding $40,000.

In the wake of the embezzlement case and the departure of Wiggington from the business, Leisure Tyme has continued to serve as a Duke Energy payment center and no similar problems have surfaced.

Wiggington pleaded guilty to all 10 counts of embezzlement when recently appearing before Judge Andy Cromer in Surry Superior Court. Those counts were consolidated into five charges for sentencing purposes.

In addition to the active term of six to eight months on two of the embezzlement offenses that were consolidated, Wiggington received multiple sentences of eight-to-10 months on additional counts to be served at the same time, but which were suspended.

Upon being admitted to the N.C. Correctional Institute for Women in Raleigh, the defendant was to undergo an assessment for mental health and substance-abuse issues, according to court documents.

Wiggington also is to be placed on intensive probation for five years upon her release from prison. She has been ordered not to use or possess controlled substances during the probationary period and to submit to regular drug testing.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Wiggington’s court-appointed attorney, Denise Pardue of Mount Airy, said she is not aware of any restitution having been paid so far by her client.

“It was an unfortunate situation for all those involved,” Pardue said of the embezzlement case.

Wiggington’s criminal record also includes convictions in Forsyth County on two felony charges of obtaining property by false pretense involving worthless checks, and two misdemeanor counts of employment security violations.

She received suspended sentences in all those cases, which were disposed of in May 2002.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.