When she showed up to work as an accountant at the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association's Alexandria, Va., headquarters a few years ago, Yvette Cecilia Logan had a dirty little secret: She was a twice-convicted embezzler. As ASCA was about to find out, forging checks was her specialty. The extra cash helped feed her gambling addiction.

During her 16 months at ASCA, including 12 of which she worked as a full-time accountant, Ms. Logan, 50, forged 59 checks totaling more than $300,000. She is serving 57 months in federal prison. Now, ASCA wants the stolen money back. And it's going after the temp agency that placed Ms. Logan with ASCA.

ASCA last month sued Robert Half International, the world's first and largest specialized staffing firm, on the grounds that it failed to properly screen Ms. Logan or check her references. ASCA is seeking $415,000 plus legal fees from Robert Half.

Had Robert Half taken the time to look into Ms. Logan's past, the suit contends, it never would have placed her and ASCA never would have hired her full-time. A simple Google search would have turned up a 1992 Washington Post news story that details Ms. Logan's 2 check-forging convictions.

Ms. Logan was charged with stealing $536,000 in 1990 while she was working for a Bethesda, Md., cable television firm. She was sentenced to 27 months in prison. While she was out on bond, she began working for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and repeated the scam, stealing $112,000 from the Bethesda charity. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison in that case.

Beginning in December 2007, Ms. Logan temped for ASCA for 14 weeks. During this time, ASCA paid Robert Half more than $36,000 — a yearly rate of $123,428 — for Ms. Logan's services. Based in part on Robert Half's recommendation that Ms. Logan "was a trustworthy and dependable individual who was suitable and qualified to provide accounting services," ASCA converted Ms. Logan to a full-time employee in March 2008. She was given the title of "accountant." ASCA paid Robert Half a $6,100 "conversion fee."

"Despite Ms. Logan's criminal history of stealing money from charities and businesses at which she worked, [Robert Half] recommended Ms. Logan to a client for work in [ASCA's] accounting and finance department," says the suit.

Ms. Logan worked in the accounting department and had access to financial documents, including blank checks. In particular, Ms. Logan was responsible for issuing checks to pay invoices. After outgoing ASCA President Kathy Bryant approved payment of an invoice, Ms. Logan was supposed to enter the invoice into the accounting software Quickbooks. Once entered, Ms. Logan would print a check for Ms. Bryant's signature, and deliver the check to Ms. Bryant. Ms. Logan was never authorized to sign checks or sign Ms. Bryant's name to checks, says the suit.

While preparing for an audit In March 2009, ASCA's financial consultants noticed problems with various bank statements and bank reconciliation reports, including suspicious checks, balance differences and other suspicious activity, says the suit. An investigation determined that Ms. Logan cashed 159 checks to herself between January 2008 and March 2009.

Ms. Logan had a "gambling addiction" and spent much of the stolen money on lottery tickets and at casinos in Atlantic City, N.J., says the suit.

A Robert Half spokeswoman said she was unable to comment on pending litigation. ASCA did not respond to a request for comment.

Dan O'Connor

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