By RODNEY HART
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
Amy Guthrie McNair faces up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty Friday to bilking an Adams County nursing home and a separate insurance fraud charge.
McNair, 43, was charged in July with forgery, theft and obstruction of justice, all stemming from her employment at North Adams Home. She'll be sentenced Dec. 14 in Quincy by Judge Scott Walden
Those offenses allegedly took place between April and July this year. She was freed after her July arrest by posting 10 percent of a $6,000 bond.
McNair failed to show up four straight times for hearings, and she was finally brought to court in late September from Blessing Hospital. She was lodged in the Adams County Jail on $100,000 bond.
McNair pleaded guilty to six counts of forgery for bilking North Adams Home out at least $10,000 by forging checks, authorities said. A theft and an obstruction of justice charge was dropped in exchange for the guilty pleas.
She was scheduled to have a jury trial this month in the North Adams Case and a December jury trial for the insurance fraud case, after pleading not guilty to all charges.
First Assistant State's Attorney Gary Farha said he would not negotiate a lesser plea with McNair's court-appointed attorney, Dave Farmer.
"Due to her existing prior criminal background and the strength of our cases, we did not offer a negotiation," Farha said.
Guthrie was also charged Sept. 30 in connection with a false report of a hit-and-run accident.
Farha said McNair contacted her insurance company Aug. 14 to report her car had been in a hit-and-run accident Aug. 13. The insurance company then paid McNair $310, but Farha said McNair's car had been repossessed Aug. 3.
Walden revoked her bond in both cases, and McNair will be in the Adams County Jail until sentencing.
In previous court appearances, Farha has said that McNair has a long history of deceptive practice.
She was sentenced in February 2006 to six years in prison for violating her probation after pleading guilty in 2005 to deceptive practice. She was accused of writing 40 bad checks to 12 area businesses.
Court records show McNair still owes nearly $16,000 in restitution from the 2005 case.
At a previous sentencing hearing, Farha said McNair, then known as Amy Guthrie, has 13 previous financial theft convictions in Florida, serving four separate prison sentences, before moving to Quincy several years ago.
McNair also did not appear in Palmyra, Mo., for a recent petition-to-revoke hearing on her 2005 probation sentence for writing bad checks in Marion County. She has a $25,000 warrant for her arrest for failure to appear in Marion County.
-- rhart@whig.com / 221-3370
