A former employee has been charged with stealing $5,911 from the Route 126 Family Quik Stop in Litchfield.

LITCHFIELD — A Litchfield woman has been charged with stealing $5,911 from the Route 126 Family Quik Stop while she was an employee there, according to police.

The Maine State Police issued a summons Saturday to Katelynn Dubois, 24, on a charge of theft.

The charge against Dubois alleges she took the money over a six-month period while employed as a cashier. The investigation into the alleged theft began Jan. 7.

State Police Lt. Pat Hood said he did not know why Dubois was issued a summons instead of being arrested, but he said state troopers may not have considered her a flight risk.

“My guess is the behavior had stopped (guessing by dismissal) so the risk is mitigated,” Hood wrote in an email response. “Now at arraignment, the District Attorney may ask for some specific conditions but the Trooper made a gut call that the person is not a flight risk.”

Eka Orr, owner of the Route 126 Family Quik Stop, told the Kennebec Journal she learned of the alleged theft when she checked the cash drawer after one of Dubois’s shifts.

“There was a note of a voided receipt and the shift was short almost $100,” Orr said. “That was when I got really suspicious; I checked the camera footage and transactions from her shifts (and) there was obviously something wrong.”

Orr said she fired Dubois after she learned of the alleged thefts. She said no other employees confronted Dubois about the missing money because there was little evidence.

Orr added Dubois was allegedly able to take the money “because she knew how to get around the register.” Orr told police Dubois would void cash transactions, keep track of the amounts voided and then take the cash at the end of her shifts.

“That way, the drawer was never off,” Orr said.

A single mother raising two daughters after her husband died, Orr said the theft meant an interruption in the store’s cash flow, which affects not only her business but how much time she spends with her family.

“I literally work every position at the store,” Orr said. “I work the register, the kitchen, maintenance, scheduling, paperwork, orders and inventory, state regulations, employees, everything.

“I could have used that cash to buy more inventory, make store renovations or give more hours to employees so I could have more time off to spend with my kids.”

A clerk at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta was unable to provide information Thursday about Dubois’s next court date.