Former Dsi Accountant Charged With Embezzlement

REDMOND

A former Digital Systems International accountant who allegedly wrote checks to himself worth nearly $500,000 was arrested Monday and charged with embezzlement.

William J. Yoshida, one of the first accountants hired by Digital Systems, used the money to vacation with friends in places like Thailand and Nepal, charged King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Bell.

Bail was set at $100,000 in King County Superior Court. The relatively high bail was requested, according to court documents, because Yoshida will be asked to pay the money back. Also, if convicted, he could rceive a sentence of up to 10 years in jail, said Bell.

Over a three-year period that ended last year, Yoshida, a 36-year-old Seattle resident who oversaw the processing of all Digital Systems travel expenses, allegedly embezzled the money by changing the name or dollar amount on company checks after they had been co-signed by another company officer.

The checks were written to Yoshida, his bank or his credit-card companies.

Redmond-based Digital Systems, which makes sophisticated telecommunications equipment, said Yoshida was discovered by the company's own internal financial controls.

The company hired the accounting firm of Peat Marwick, which audited accounts Yoshida had prepared and "uncovered numerous thefts dating back to April 1987 through the defendant's dismissal in July of 1990," according to court documents.