Former Chicago Schools Employee Found Dead Now Accused Of Embezzling $420K

From the Chicago Tribune on 1/6/14:

A technology coordinator at a North Side high school embezzled nearly $420,000 from Chicago Public Schools in an elaborate, decadelong fraudulent billing scheme, according to an investigation highlighted in the district inspector general's annual report.

The suspect, Roberto Tirado of Lake View High School, resigned as the investigation was underway and in January 2012 was found dead in a hotel in Tijuana, Mexico, according to Inspector General Jim Sullivan, whose report was released Friday.

The investigation found that from 2001 to 2011, Tirado lined up nine former classmates and students to pose as CPS vendors. He then had checks issued to them from the district delivered to a post office box he opened in Evanston, according to Sullivan's report.

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Former CFO Of New York Company Charged With Embezzling $5.7 Million

From the White Plains Daily Voice on 1/7/14:

A federal grand jury in White Plains indicted Gregg Pierleoni with mail and wire fraud in connection with the  embezzlement of $5.7 million from his former Larchmont employer, according to a statement released by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

Pierleoni, of New Fairfield, Conn., was accused of moving funds from Collins Brothers Moving Company's operating account to other accounts. He then allegedly wrote checks from those accounts to pay his personal American Express bills, according to Bharara.

Read the whole story here.

Former General Manager Of Illinois Company Charged With Embezzling More Than $2 Million

From the Chicago Tribune:

A longtime former general manager of a west suburban chemical company has been charged with embezzling more than $2 million, in part to pay off credit card bills and remodel her kitchen, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.

Kathleen Barth was fired as general manager at Kraft Chemical Co. after the thefts were discovered a year ago, according to a Circuit Court lawsuit filed by the company to recover the losses.

According to the lawsuit and prosecutors, Barth was paid $65,000 a year but secretly inflated her compensation to as much as $286,000, disguising the additional money as bonuses and commissions.
She also electronically transferred about $990,000 from the company's checking account to pay off her personal credit cards, prosecutors alleged. According to the lawsuit, those payments to her American Express card totaled as much as $40,000 in a single month.

Prosecutors charged that Barth also stole from Kraft by issuing unauthorized company checks directly to herself and having the company issue checks to contractors to pay for work at her Chicago home. She spent as much as $91,000 in company funds to remodel the kitchen, according to the lawsuit.

Barth, 56, was arrested Wednesday night on a warrant that set her bail at $200,000. She is being held in Cook County Jail until a hearing Friday at which prosecutors intend to seek an increase in the bail amount.

...

Barth, who joined the company in April 2005, grew bolder with each year she got away with the thefts, according to the lawsuit. She allegedly inflated her salary to $101,500 in 2006 with the phony bonuses and commissions. By 2011, her salary had soared to $286,000 as part of the scheme, the lawsuit alleged. In that way, Barth stole more than $840,000, prosecutors charged.

She also used company money to pay her personal Citi Card and American Express credit cards, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars at a time. The lawsuit alleged that Barth disguised electronic transfers on company paperwork by referring to them as "profit sharing" and "miscellaneous" expenses.

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Major Embezzlement Cases: September 1 - 7, 2012

Paul Nogaki

Paul Takuya Nogaki, 55, of Murrieta, California, was arrested on charges he embezzled as much as $135,000 from the Vista Murrieta Golden Alliance Band Boosters for which he had served as treasurer.  According to media reports, an informal audit was conducted after a new treasurer was appointed which confirmed that Nogaki had misappropriated Band Booster Club funds for his personal use. 

Update (10/24/12): Nogaki has pleaded not guilty to the embezzlement charges of what is now believed to be more than $212,000.  His thefts allegedly spanned a 2 year period.

Todd W. Lauzon, 39, of Woonsockett, Rhode Island, pleaded guilty to 30 counts of embezzlement in connection with his alleged theft of at least $137,000 from customer deposits for pre-payment of funderal services with his business, Lauzon Funeral Home.  Prosecutors allege that Lauzon misappropriated client funds over a 7 year period, from 2002 to 2009. 

Update (9/5/12): Lauzon was sentenced to a net 4 years in prison.

Patricia Ann Stanz, 61, pleaded guilty to charges she embezzled more than $525,000 from the Gesu Roman Catholic Church in West Toledo, Ohio where she had served as business manager.  Over a period of about 3 years, from June 2008 through August 2011, Stanz issued nearly 100 checks to herself or cash.  During this period she also abused church credit card accounts for her own benefit.  Specifically, Stanz pleaded guilty to one count each of counterfeit securities and of fraudulent use of access device.  Stanz reportedly blames a gambling addiction for her actions.

Update (2/23/13): Stanz was sentenced to two years in federal prison and ordered to repay $505,777 in restitution.

The late Linda Mae Jenkins, who passed away at 53 on March 24, 2012 from cancer, is reported to have embezzled about $140,000 from Old Orchard Beach, Maine's Libby Memorial Library, where she had served as bookeeper.  Jenkins' thefts reportedly spanned a 6 year period.  Officials blamed a complete lack of oversight for the embezzlement.

Charity Howder

Charity D. Howder, 36, of Santa Rosa, California, has been arrested on charges she embezzled some $262,000 from a Petaluma consulting company and a Rohnert Park law office where she had served as outside bookkeeper.  Howder allegedly wrote numerous checks from the accounts of her two clients, The Law Offices of Charlotte Creaghan and Project Management Solutions, Inc., for her own benefit.  Specifically, Howder has been charged with one count of grand theft and two counts of forgery. 

Update (12/3/12): Howder is now suspected of embezzling an additional $102,000 from a third client, Andreoli's Towing, through her bookkeeping business, G&C Financial. 

Two former North Carolina Central University administrators were indicted for allegedly conspiring to misappropriate more than $1 milliion from the institution.  The two include Nan Coleman, who administered the former Historically Minority Colleges and Universities Consortium, and former NCCU Provost Beverly Washington Jones.  Coleman and Jones allegedly embezzling $137,330 and $62,128, respectively, in grant money meant to help African American students.  Coleman allegedly stole the funds over a 5 year period, from 2005 through 2010 and Jones misappropriated the funds over a 4 year period, from 2005 through 2009.  An additional $600,000 was allegedly diverted to a private account used by Coleman to pay for personal expenses over a nine month period between December 2008 and August 2009. 

Major Embezzlement Cases: August 14 - 20, 2012

Cheryl Porter

Cheryl Celeste Kenyon Porter, 45, of Greensboro, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to charges she embezzled about $162,000 from Piedmont Staffing Solutions Inc., where she had been employed and had the responsibility of handling the company's payroll.  According to authorities, Porter caused the payroll system to cut additional payroll checks to herself and family members, totalling $162,000.  The thefts spanned a period of about 4 years, beginning in 2008.

Heather Nicole Laake, 21, of Winifrede, West Virginia, has been charged with embezzling more than $101,000 from the South Charleston Employees Federal Credit Union where she had been employed.  According to authorities, Laake took funds from customer accounts and changed the account information in an effort to conceal the thefts.  Laake's boyfriend at the time, Dewayne Spaulding, is also facing similar charges.  The misappropriations reportedly spanned a 4 month period. 

Stennett “Glen” Bernard, 58, of Brockton, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 5 years probation and ordered to pay restitution for embezzling $173,312 from the United Steelworkers Local 421 union which operated at the Serta Mattress Company in Middleboro, Mass.  Bernard had served as president of the union from which he siphoned funds over a period of about 2 years. 

Joseph Winford Hughes, 44, and his wife, Cylena Taylor Hughes, 44, both of Bryson City, North Carolina, were arrested and charged with embezzling more than $100,000 from the Bryson City Fire Department local Firemen’s Relief Fund and the East Swain Elementary Parent Teacher Organization fund.  Joseph Hughes was the Bryson City fire chief. 

Pamela Fisha Nishon Atkinson, 41, of Asheville, North Carolina, was arrested and charged with embezzling more than $100,000 from Wood Tech Enterprises over a period of about 2 years, from 2009 to 2011.   Developing...



Cathleen Schmid

Cathleen Schmid, believed to be in her mid-40s, has been arrested and charged with embezzling about $220,000 from Dominion Liquid Technologies of Fairfax, Ohio.  The thefts reportedly spanned a 3 year period, from 2008 through 2011.  Schmid allegedly submitted fraudulent expense reports for reimbursement and caused the company to issue checks to third party personal vendors to whom she owed money.

Update (11/20/12): Schmid, 47, was sentenced to 2 years in prison.  She has a history of embezzlement and was convicted in:

• 2006 for stealing $51,126.82 from Hills Developers, where Schmid worked from March 2003 to August 2005. She also used fake invoices there to help her steal company money. She was placed on probation and ordered to repay the company;
• 2009 for stealing $10,000 from her Mason employer, National Starch, now known as Henkel Co. She was placed on probation for three years in 2009 and ordered to spend 150 days in jail on a work release program. She was working for Dominion at that time;
• 2000 in Clermont County for a theft case for which she received probation, the judge said Monday. It’s unclear if that conviction was for stealing from an employer.

Mirza H. Baig, 49, of Marlborough, Massachusetts was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for embezzling more than $2 million from New England Cash Dispensing Systems Inc. which was contracted to manage ATMs for the Domestic Bank of Cranston, Rhode Island.  Baig and other NECDS employees reportedly ordered excess cash for ATM refills and pocketed the difference.