While officer upheld law, wife broke it

PROVO — For more than 20 years, Pleasant Grove Police Lt. James Taufer says he adhered to his sworn duty to protect the public and uphold the law.

And he insists he had no idea that his wife of 25 years was stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from three separate employers.

While James Taufer patrolled the quiet streets of a Utah County burg, investigators say his wife, Kristine Taufer, was forging checks and depositing stolen funds.

Victims of Kristine Taufer's swindling, however, question the veteran officer's claims of innocence, pointing out that some of the stolen funds were deposited directly into his bank account and that some of the fraudulent checks bore his name.

James Taufer adamantly denies knowledge of his former wife's criminal activity while they were married. But he is resigned to the fact that his reputation as a law-enforcement officer may forever be tarnished.

Kristine Taufer, 43, pleaded guilty earlier this year in Provo's 4th District Court to three second-degree felony counts of theft and unlawful use of a credit card. She also admitted guilt on five third-degree felony counts of forgery and credit card fraud.

All charges are in connection with the theft of funds from three Utah County companies that hired Kristine Taufer as a bookkeeper. The charges came as the result of an investigation by the Utah Attorney General's Office and the Utah County attorney.

Kristine Taufer will be sentenced July 23.

Ruined lives

Court records show that Kristine Taufer was convicted in September 2000 on felony counts of forgery and theft by deception for stealing funds from a Provo dental office where she worked as an office manager. Court records show that Taufer managed to avoid jail time but was placed on 36 months probation and ordered to pay $5,546 in restitution.

Soon after that conviction, Taufer was hired as office manager for Mechanical Insulation Specialists. Tim Taylor, a deputy Utah County attorney, said Kristine Taufer is believed to have used forged checks to take $93,000 from the Alpine company.

Kristine Taufer was soon fired. Yet she was hired again as an office manager in May 2001 at the surveying company of Daley & Associates in Payson, where she allegedly made off with an estimated $175,000. She pleaded guilty in the case.