Oral Molden
Courtesy of the WCSO
The 47-year-old Lima Township man who had an embezzlement charge dismissed earlier this year was arraigned Sunday on four similar charges connected with the same case, police said.
Oral Molden was arrested Saturday and arraigned Sunday on charges of false pretenses over $20,000, false pretenses between $999 and $20,000, making or permitting a false tax return and malicious use of a telecommunications service, according to court records.
Oral Molden was released on a personal recognizance bond. He is due back in court Jan. 3, police said.
Oral Molden had been charged with embezzling $20,000 or more. That charge was dismissed at a preliminary examination on April 24 because there was insufficient evidence to bind it over to circuit court, AnnArbor.com has previously reported.
Prosecutors were unavailable for comment due to a holiday break, but Sgt. Geoff Fox of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office said the charges are related to the previous case.
Oral Molden's wife, Janice, faces charges in the same case. Police think the couple illegally obtained $250,000 from A2 Auto Glass in Scio Township over a period of 3 ½ years.
Janice Molden, 45, was a bookkeeper for the company. She is charged with embezzling $100,000 or more, embezzling $25,000 or more, embezzling more than $999 but less than $20,000 and three counts of using a computer to commit a crime. She has a final pretrial hearing scheduled for Jan. 16 in Judge Archie Brown's courtroom.
Investigators have said Oral Molden did computer work for the company.
When Janice Molden appeared in court in September, her public defender, Laura Dudley, hinted that a plea deal could be in the works.
A trial date of Jan. 28 has been scheduled for Janice Molden.
John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.