A Dewey woman accused of stealing more than $400,000 from Prescott Area Habitat for Humanity remains in custody this week — with both of her criminal cases still in pretrial, and a new legal fight brewing over how the second indictment was handled.
Karen Marie Northcutt — former executive director of the local Habitat chapter — faces charges in two separate Yavapai County Superior Court cases. The original case, filed in 2024, accuses her of fraudulent schemes and theft spanning several years on the job. A second grand jury indictment, handed down in January, added four more felony counts — including trafficking in stolen property, money laundering, and tampering with physical evidence — tied specifically to two vehicles allegedly purchased with stolen Habitat funds.
According to a grand jury transcript, a forensic accountant placed the total alleged theft at approximately $826,000 over a four-year period.
The next court date in the matter is set for April 29th.
Defense attorney Timothy Sparling filed a motion March 30th seeking permission to submit an oversized brief — 24 pages rather than the standard eleven — arguing the grand jury proceedings contained, quote, “numerous violations” of Northcutt’s rights. The underlying dismissal motion has not yet been filed publicly.
Northcutt’s criminal history in the case file stretches back more than four decades. Court records allege five prior felony convictions — all financial crimes — including fraud schemes and theft in Yavapai County in 2005, larceny in Mohave County in 1994, making a false financial statement in California in 1989, and forgery and insufficient funds charges in Los Angeles in 1985. Prosecutors have put the defense on notice those convictions may be used as aggravating factors at sentencing — and potentially introduced at trial.