An Oahu grand jury indicted a Salt Lake woman Tuesday for allegedly stealing more than $52,000 from the Hawaii chapter of the American Red Cross by forging 145 checks made payable to her over a 7 1⁄2-year period.

Kathleen Mary Caneda, 62, a former Red Cross payroll clerk, was charged with first-degree theft, a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Circuit Judge Richard Perkins set bail at $25,000.

The indictment says Caneda stole the money from July 8, 2004, to Jan. 5, 2012.

Chris Van Marter, deputy city prosecutor, said Caneda wrote most of the checks in amounts under $500. Checks over that amount needed to be co-signed by American Red Cross Hawaii Chief Executive Officer Cora­lie Mata­yo­shi and one other person. Checks under $500 could be endorsed with machine-generated signatures, Van Marter said.

He said Caneda covered her tracks by making false entries in the organization’s books. However, an alert employee noticed that the checks did not match the book entries. That triggered an audit that uncovered what Caneda had been doing, Van Marter said.

He said the state wants to help the Red Cross recover the money and hopes the theft does not discourage people from donating to the Red Cross.

"This was not (the organization’s) fault. This was the fault of an employee who exploited the system, found loopholes in the accounting system and exploited them for her own benefit," Van Marter said.