Isenberg no-show in court

A Coeur d’Alene businesswoman accused of embezzling more than $500,000 from a local nonprofit failed to appear in court Monday for her arraignment on grand theft charges.

An attorney for Laurcene B. “Lori” Isenberg told First District Judge Scott Wayman his client had been traveling, but that she was expected to be at the Monday morning hearing.

Wayman ordered the hearing continued until Friday, after Coeur d’Alene defense attorney Erik Smith asked for it to be postponed.

That Isenberg, who is out of jail on a $75,000 bond, didn’t show up for a felony arraignment on grand theft charges troubled prosecutors, who opted to go along with Smith’s request to delay the hearing for four days.

“I’m concerned she’s not present,” deputy prosecutor Alex Klempel said. “I want to make sure she’s actually around.”

Klempel said she would refrain at this time from asking the judge to issue a bench warrant.

Isenberg, 64, was charged in February for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her former employer, The North Idaho Housing Coalition. The nonprofit uses federal grant money to buy and refurbish foreclosed properties, before selling them as affordable homes to families with low and moderate incomes.

Coeur d’Alene police charged Isenberg with 40 counts of forgery and one count of grand theft for allegedly embezzling a half million dollars, but she was charged in court with just one count of felony grand theft.

The charges came around the time the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office investigated the whereabouts of Isenberg’s husband, Larry. The former forester had been missing since Feb. 13 and was feared drowned after an early-morning boating excursion on Lake Coeur d’Alene with his wife. In a statement to deputies, Isenberg said her husband fell overboard while trying to fix a trolling motor.

An angler found Larry Isenberg’s body floating in the lake March 1, but coroners on Monday said they could not discuss the autopsy results because the case is under investigation. Smith, at Monday’s arraignment, told the court that Lori Isenberg had been traveling but that he had been in contact with his client and reminded her of Monday’s hearing. He said a plea bargain in the case could be forthcoming.

“I don’t have a valid reason why she’s not here,” Smith said. “We are heading toward a resolution in this case.”

Isenberg was arrested after authorities were notified that an internal audit at the housing coalition indicated foul play.

Isenberg has a 30-plus year history in the area — she worked almost a decade at the North Idaho Housing Coalition — and she is mother of six children and grandmother of 16.