Six families said just before Christmas Manda Anderson Miller took their money to rent a Puyallup home that's in foreclosure.
KIRO 7 investigated Miller and found out authorities tried to get her behind bars months before the rental scheme. Now, three law enforcement agencies are trying to track down Miller, but she remains on the run.
We obtained newly released surveillance video from the Sidetrack Eatery and Pub in Kent.
The video was taken last summer, when Miller worked as a bartender at the restaurant.
In court documents, an agent with the Washington State Gambling Commission homes in on what he doesn't see.
The video shows Miller counting $600 and $500 from a till used to pay out gambling games. The video also shows her take the money.
The investigator points out there are no excited winners nearby and Miller doesn't fill out any paperwork to document the wins.
Miller was charged with theft. Now, there's an outstanding warrant for her arrest because she failed to appear in court.
"She's hurting people, that's all she's doing," said Kristen Fisher.
Fisher, the owner of the Dog and Pony Alehouse in Renton, said she's still dealing with the consequences of employing Miller for a couple of months in late 2013 and early 2014.
"She was ripping us off blind, she brought us to our knees, period," Fisher said.
Fisher, a single mother of three, said she trusted Miller to be a night manager and even confided to Miller that her eldest daughter's special needs made it impossible for her to close the bar every night.
Fisher believes Miller used that information to take advantage of her.
"It's my fault, again I get it, deficiencies everywhere in my own business but this person is out to steal and she's good at it," Fisher said.
After months of negative cash flow and administrative work in disarray, Fisher dove deep into her accounts and said Miller was the common thread.
"I couldn't believe it, nobody could. We're all like, it can't be. So, we set her up with some secret shoppers, and I had some customers pay in cash and that cash was missing."
Fisher believes when customers paid cash Miller would take the money, then manipulate the computer system to erase the transaction.
Police estimated Miller stole $15,000, in addition to forging at least five checks. But prosecutors declined the case.
"There was some difficulty proving the cash had disappeared," said Renton police spokesperson Terri Vickers.
Then, last December Renton police saw reports that six families said they all paid thousands of dollars in deposits to rent Miller's home.
It turned out nobody could rent the house because it is in foreclosure.
The incident in Puyallup pushed Renton police to refile their case with King County prosecutors, this time just for the checks.
Fisher reached out to them, too. "I wrote the prosecutor, and I just said maybe these people wouldn't be out of money and their homes if you would've done something about it back then."
Prosecutors are again reviewing the case.
The scale and scope of Miller's damage to Fisher's life would be hard to believe if there weren't a paper trail.
"It makes you lose your sort of faith in humanity, it really does," Fisher said.
After Fisher fired Miller, Miller filed a wage complaint with the State Labor and Industries seeking more than $11,000 in compensation.
Just days ago, L&I finished its final review and cleared Fisher.
"She terrifies me, to be honest with you. I just think she's got to be ... I mean she went after me after I fired her like she was justified in doing so," Fisher said.
Fisher's year-long ordeal captured the attention of a reality TV renovation show.
With the new upgrades her business is back on track.
Miller has at least two other aliases: Manda Anderson and Lynn Anderson.
"We find that people who commit crimes do tend to change their names, switch up their birth dates in order to not be identified, recognized and of course caught," said Vickers.
Miller has two theft convictions from 1997 and 2010. In both cases, she was allowed to plead guilty to a lower count of Theft 2.
If you see her, contact police.
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