A Silt man will stand trial for allegedly stealing more than $1 million from Bear Wallow Ranch, a spread west of Glenwood Springs principally owned by the chairman of Waffle House Inc.
A state court judge in Glenwood Springs on Monday found there is sufficient evidence in the case against Charles Zane Farris, who is accused of miscoding expenses and using company checks for his personal gain and stealing equipment, tools and other items over the 30 years he and his wife, Charla, managed the ranch for Joe Rogers Jr.
A separate preliminary hearing for Charla Farris was set for Tuesday.
Charles and Charla Farris and their sons, Tyler and Dustin, were arrested last summer.
Rogers claims the Farrises paid themselves additional salaries, purchased an additional home with unauthorized money, and left the ranch that they were supposed to be supervising without a manager on site.
Rogers and his wife, Fran, told Garfield County investigator Megan Alstatt that they first became suspicious of the Farrises after Charla asked for more money, although Joe Rogers had recently deposited $50,000 into the Bear Wallow account.
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Alstatt said at the Monday preliminary hearing for Zane Farris that the Rogerses asked the Farrises about the misspent funds on tape, and they admitted they had used “bad judgment.” They said they would turn over missing expense reports. The Rogerses say they still have not received those reports, which they asked for back in October 2016.
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