A Vian woman is accused of embezzling $22,000 from a Sallisaw business after allegedly trying to use money she embezzled from a Fort Smith, Ark., business to pay back her alleged theft.

Tambra J. Gowin, 39, was charged Tuesday with felony embezzlement in Sequoyah County District Court in Sallisaw. If convicted, she could face up to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. Gowin is also currently facing an embezzlement charge in Fort Smith for allegedly embezzling more than $100,000 from her former employer, Complete Medical Solutions.

According to court records, the charge in Sequoyah County against Gowin stems from a report made to the Sallisaw Police Department on Jan. 18. Rod Brooks reported that Gowin had embezzled $22,000 from his Mazzio's business account, which was listed under the name of Rod's Management Service.

Brooks told police that the account was set up for employee payroll and tax payment. Brooks said they hired Gowin to handle their payroll and taxes.

Brooks discovered that Gowin had instead used the money from the Rod's Management Account to pay her employees at Page One Communications, according to court records. Brooks produced photocopies of checks issued between Sept. 1, 2006, and March 1, 2007. Gowin provided Brooks with a list of her employees at Page One and the amounts they were paid from Brooks' account. Brooks told police that when he confronted Gowin she denied the allegations until he told her about having copies of the checks issued to her employees.

Sallisaw Police Officer Wendel Hughes reported that there were 75 checks that were written to Page One employees totaling $22,374.15. Brooks told police that at no time did Gowin have permission to issue checks to her employees at Page One from Rod's Management Account. Brooks said the money embezzled should have been used to pay the IRS for taxes on his business, court records indicate.

Brooks told police that in April 2007, Gowin stayed in contact with him in reference to her paying the money back. Gowin allegedly told Brooks that she was working to pay the money back. In October, Gowin paid $18,000 to the IRS for Rods Management payroll tax account. But according to court records, the IRS never deposited the money into the account, but placed it into a holding account. Hughes wrote that an IRS official told Brooks that the money deposited by Gowin was money embezzled from Complete Medical Solutions in Fort Smith, and the check was returned to them.