Pennsylvania Woman Sentenced For Embezzling $600K From Auto Dealership

From TribLiveNews on 3/11/2015:

A Lawrence County woman's request for home confinement as punishment for stealing nearly $600,000 from her employer was bold if not bordering on delusional, a federal judge said Wednesday.

 

U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon sentenced Deborah Cassini, 62, of New Castle to 3 ¹⁄₂ years in prison and three years of probation.

 

The former office manager for Three Rivers Volkswagen of South Hills, Cassini pleaded guilty in August to four counts of wire fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns.

 

Her thefts nearly drove the dealership out of business, said Kathi Tennant, president of the company.

We almost got padlocked three times, she said after the hearing. Bissoon ordered Cassini to pay $250,000 in restitution to the dealership's insurer and $397,000 to the dealership to cover her thefts and the cost of an audit that uncovered them.

 

The dealership is still recovering. It hasn't returned to the financial position it was in before Cassini began stealing, Tennant said.

 

We've gotten through the worst, she said.

 

Cassini apologized for her crimes.

 

I never thought it would come to this, she said. I never thought it would be this much money.

 

While Cassini worked at Three Rivers Volkswagen, she lived in Peters. Between 2006 and 2011, she used her online access to the company's bank accounts to make 163 payments to her credit cards and six payments on her BMW, prosecutors said.

 

She issued herself additional paychecks 98 times, regularly skimmed cash and wrote business checks to herself and to cash, prosecutors say. She concealed the thefts by making false entries in the dealership's accounting system and preparing false financial statements, prosecutors said.

 

This was a long, destructive course of embezzlement and lies, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Karl said.  And it nearly destroyed Three Rivers Volkswagen.

 

Cassini embezzled money so that she could play slot machines to forget her depression and other problems, said her attorney, Douglas Sughrue.

 

Instead of cognitive therapy, she went to the casinos, he said.

 

Sughrue said Cassini didn't set out to steal $600,000. Most of the thefts were in small increments, and his client didn't total them to see how much she was stealing, he said after the hearing.

 

The vast majority of them, in fact, are what the government and I would call cash skimming, he said.

 

The evidence in the case showed she spent money on a lot of things other than gambling and generally was living beyond her means, Bissoon said.

 

The defendant stole until there was nothing left to steal, the judge said.

Nebraska Woman Pleads No Contest To Charges Related to $2.5 Million Embezzlement Conspiracy With Her Father

From the Fremont Tribune on 2/11/2015:

A Fremont woman facing charges in connection to an embezzlement scheme was found guilty Wednesday in Dodge County District Court.

Joleen Cameron, 42, of Fremont pleaded no contest and was found guilty of theft by receiving stolen property, and two counts of attempted filing false income tax returns, all Class I misdemeanors.

Dodge County Attorney Oliver Glass said Cameron faces up to three years in prison when she is sentenced March 27.

Cameron was arrested on June 9 on charges connected to an alleged embezzlement scheme involving her now deceased father, Dennis Hesman.

Hesman was arrested June 4 on 10 counts of theft by deception and one count conspiracy to commit theft by deception. Each count is a Class III felony and carried a potential one- to 20-year prison sentence.

Hesman pleaded not guilty to all charges July 21 in Dodge County District Court, and died 10 days later at the Veteran’s Hospital in Omaha.

In its case, the state alleged Hesman, the former superintendent at Gavilon Grain in Fremont, created false tickets for commodities between 2007 and 2013 that led to his receiving nearly $2.5 million.

During Wednesday’s arraignment, Glass told the court some of the money embezzled by Hesman was turned over Cameron, which she did not claim when filing her taxes in 2011 and 2012. Glass said Cameron has paid the state a substantial sum of money in back taxes.

A civil suit seeking to recuperate lost funds has been turned over by Gavilon Grain to its insurance company. The state could seek restitution in the case at sentencing, Glass told the court.

Iowa Man Expected To Plead Guilty Today To Charges He Embezzled $365K From Local Excavation Company

From The Gazette on 2/5/2015:

A former controller of a Dubuque excavating company will plead guilty Friday in federal court to embezzling over $360,000 from the company.

Michael Schute, who worked at Tschiggfrie Excavating from 1988 to 2013, will plead guilty to one count each of wire fraud and filing a false tax return, according to the plea agreement. Schute, who was responsible for the daily cash flow and had authority to write checks for the company, is accused of embezzling money from the company from 2008 to 2013.

According to the plea, Schute wrote company checks to pay for his personal credit card bills. He falsified ledgers to make it appear that the funds were used for company expenses to conceal his scheme.

Management at Tschiggfrie discovered the fraud in April 2013, after finding discrepancies in the expenditures reflected on the books, according to the plea. Schute confessed to the embezzlement during a phone conversation with one of the owners of Tschiggfrie. He was fired after the call.

Schute is accused of stealing about $365,417 over the five years, according to the plea agreement. During this same time period, he filed false tax returns because he failed to declare the money he embezzled. If Schute would have filed all taxable income, it would have resulted in additional taxes owed on about $86,347.

According to the plea agreement, Schute also will be required to pay full restitution to victims.
Schute faces up to 23 years in prison and up to a $500,000 in fines for both charges.

Former Head of Symphony in California Pleads No Contest in $272K Embezzlement Case

From the San Francisco Chronicle on 12/4/2014:

The former executive director of the Peninsula Symphony Association in Los Altos has been convicted of tax fraud and embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars, authorities said Thursday.

Stephen Jay Carlton, 46, of Novato, faces up to 16 years in state prison when he is sentenced next year. He remains in custody until then.

Carlton was convicted this week of a misdemeanor and two felony counts for filing false tax returns. He was found guilty after a bench trial before Judge Allison Danner of Santa Clara County Superior Court.

Two months earlier, Carlton pleaded no contest to stealing $272,000 from the symphony.

The investigation began in September 2013 when a bank alerted a member of the symphony’s board that the organization’s funds had an “unusually low balance,” prosecutors said. Symphony officials contacted Los Altos police, and Carlton resigned.

Authorities determined that Carlton wrote numerous checks to himself from the symphony, using some of the money to pay off personal debts, including back taxes. Carlton forged the signatures of two board members on several checks and took out an unauthorized $25,000 loan.

One symphony endowment plunged from $227,000 to $375, while another dwindled from $195,000 to $395.

Carlton underreported wages from the symphony on state income tax returns from 2010 to 2012 and did not report the embezzled funds as income, authorities said.

The 65-year-old symphony hit a sour note with the embezzlement, which threatened its existence...

Read the whole story here.

Hat tip: FraudTalk reader Cheryl.

Massachusetts Woman Indicted For Allegedly Embezzling From Retirement Community

From The Republican on 11/19/2014:

The former manager of an East Longmeadow retirement community is under federal indictment for allegedly embezzling funds from the facility.

Alice Lacroix, 53, formerly of East Longmeadow, was arrested in Virginia and charged with eight counts of wire fraud, eight counts of money laundering, and two counts of aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns, U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz announced Wednesday.

The indictment alleges that Lacroix, a former manager of Bluebird Estates, a retirement living community off Parker Street, embezzled funds from her employer by stealing rent checks paid by tenants, as well as other checks and property belonging to her employer.

Authorities say Lacroix established a bank account in the name of Bluebird Estates and deposited the stolen funds into that account. Lacroix then engaged in financial transactions designed to disguise the proceeds of the fraudulent scheme, according to prosecutors.

Lacroix deceived her employer through emails containing false information about the stolen rent payments, then "aided and abetted in the filing of false income tax returns," prosecutors said.

Authorities did not indicate how long Lacroix had managed Bluebird Estates, or how much money she allegedly took during her tenure at the facility.

If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in federal prison, hefty fines and other penalties.

...

Read the whole story here.

Note: We assume that although no amount has yet been disclosed, this case involves more than $100,000 since it is being prosecuted on a federal basis.

Maine Woman Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $3 Million From Bank

From the Kennebec Journal on 2/18/14:

A Bucksport woman accused of improperly transferring nearly $3 million from financial clients has pleaded guilty to embezzlement and filing false tax returns.

Lynn M. Bowden, 62, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court and faces up to 30 years in prison and significant fines on the embezzlement charge, U.S. attorney Thomas E. Delahanty announced Wednesday. Bowden also faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on the false tax return charge.

Bowden was accused of making 108 deposits and transfers of customer funds into her personal accounts from April 4, 2005, to Sept. 26, 2012, while she worked at Merrill Merchants Bank and Chittenden Corp. Those deposits and transfers totaled more than $2.99 million, according to Delahanty.

...

Read the whole story here.

Pennsylvania Man Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $9 Million From Drilling Company; Blames Gambling Addiction

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on 2/18/14:

Larry Dean Winckler, former chief operating officer of Marcellus shale gas firm Falcon Drilling LLC, pleaded guilty today to federal charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and filing false tax returns, after a prosecutor outlined his embezzlement of $9 million, much of it spent on gambling.

Mr. Winckler, 53, of Indiana, Pa., could face five or six years in prison following a sentencing hearing set for May 30.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Melucci said that Mr. Winckler worked with the company’s controller and an auto parts dealer to funnel money out of the firm from 2004 through 2012.

He wrote checks in the tens of thousand of dollars, sometimes many times in a single month, which he disguised through fake purchases for parts and drill bits, Mr. Melucci said.

The prosecutor said that Mr. Winckler had an “enormous gambling problem” and lost much of the money at casinos in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.

...

Read the whole story here.


Update (1/27/15):  Winckler was sentenced to 96 months in prison and ordered to pay $10,206,425 in restitution. 

Minnesota Man Involved In Incredible $6.3 Million Embezzlment Saga

From the Pioneer Press on 2/18/14:

The saga has betrayal, blackmail and even a longtime mistress. And then there's the millions of dollars allegedly embezzled from one of St. Paul's best-known businessmen.  In a court document filed Friday, federal prosecutors laid out the case they plan to present to a jury next week when John Joseph Waters Jr. goes on trial, accused of stealing from his longtime boss and friend, the late Gerard Leon Cafesjian, the retired West Publishing executive whose name is on St. Paul's famous carousel.  Assistant U.S. Attorney William Otteson wrote in a pretrial brief that Waters engineered a scheme to embezzle millions from Cafesjian and that the scam lasted for years. "Waters used the stolen money to satisfy the expensive personal spending habits of himself, his family, and a mistress whom he was secretly supporting for years," Otteson wrote.  The alleged embezzlement totaled $4 million, the government claims, and he gave more than $700,000 of it "to his mistress, Cheri Kuhn (now Cheri Waters), whom he met at the Deja Vu nightclub in the late 1990s and with whom he was having a long-term affair," Otteson wrote.  Waters, 57, of Eden Prairie has pleaded not guilty to the charges. In August, he was named in a 26-count federal indictment accusing him of mail and wire fraud, income tax evasion and filing a false income tax return.  His trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 24 in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.

...

Read the whole story here.

Missouri Couple Face Tax Charges Following $4 Million Embezzlement Scheme

From St. Joe Channel on 1/29/14:

A Chillicothe couple faces a new indictment connected to a $4 million wire fraud scheme.

Donna Preszler, 60, and her husband Terrance Preszler, 63, were indicted this week by a federal grand jury in Kansas City for filing a false income tax return.

According to the indictment, the couple failed to claim income from the wire fraud scheme involving Mrs. Preszler and her employer, Burdg, Dunham & Associates Construction Corp.
Mrs. Preszler allegedly embezzled millions from the Hamilton company where she worked as an accounting manager from 2004 to 2012.

...

Read the whole story here.

Update 2/13/14:  Donna and Terrance Preszler both pleaded guilty to various felony counts including wire fraud, money laundering and filing a false tax return.

Kansas Woman Sentenced For Not Paying Taxes On Nearly $2 Million In Funds She Embezzled

From the US DOJ:

...

Teresa Joyce Moore, 65, Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison. She pleaded guilty to one count of filing false income tax returns. In her plea, she admitted the crime occurred while she was working for Big W of Kansas City, Kan., a family run business specializing in manufacturing expandable polystyrene molding, processing and cutting equipment. She was a bookkeeper and officer manager with duties that included invoicing, tracking payroll and general bookkeeping.

In late 2007, the owners of Big W realized that Moore had defrauded the company. She created false invoices from legitimate vendors and prepared checks payable to the vendors. Then she created checks for the same amount payable to herself or her credit card company. When the checks with the forged signature cleared the bank and was returned to Big W., Moore hid them and put the checks payable to the legitimate vendor in Big W’s records.

Moore used embezzled funds to purchase homes, furniture, appliances and other items. On her 2006 federal tax return she reported income of $31,990. In fact, she had received income of more than $451,000 through her embezzlement scheme. On her 2007 federal tax return, she reported an income of $30,881. She did not report more than $507,000 she received from her embezzlement in 2007. Moore embezzled a total of nearly $2 million while working for Big W.

...

2 New Jersey Women Plead Guilty To Conspiring To Embezzle $779K From Law Firm

From The Associated Press on 6/6/13:

Two women who worked at a central New Jersey law firm have been sentenced to prison after admitting they embezzled nearly $800,000 from their employer.

Marla Deptula of Sayreville received a 20-month sentence and Rose Crabbe of Plainfield received 15 months in federal court in Trenton on Thursday.

Both women had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Deptula also pleaded guilty to subscribing to a false tax return.

They admitted writing checks to themselves from the Edison-based law firm's accounts and using the money to pay credit card bills, taxes and child care expenses. The U.S. Attorney's Office alleges hey tried to hide the scheme by altering the law firm's accounting records.

Deptula will be required to pay $705,000 and Crabbe will have to pay $74,000 in restitution.

Major Embezzlement Cases: July 24 - 31

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating a $3.7 million embezzlement reported by First Security Bank in Malta, Montana.  The employee suspected in the long-term misappropriation scheme has not yet been named.  Developing...   

Update (8/10/12): Rhonda Lee Devries, 50, has pleaded not guilty to one count each of embezzlement by a bank officer, credit card fraud and money laundering for defrauding First Security Bank of Malta out of nearly $3.7 million over a period of nearly 12 years.  Devries allegedly set up high-limit credit accounts for phony companies she created and withdrew the funds for her own benefit.
Update (11/27/12): Devries was sentenced to 110 months in prison and ordered to pay $3,811,221.52 in restitution.

Leon E. Piepenbrink, 52, of St Paul, Minnesota, has been sentenced to one year in jail for embezzling  as much as $300,000 from the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod where he had served as a pastor.  The thefts spanned a period of about three years, from 2007 to 2010.  Piepenbrink pleaded guilty to seven counts of theft by swindle this past April.

Barbara Kaye Rechtzigel, 47, of Belview, Minnesota, has been charged with embezzling about $1 million from customer CD accounts at Minwest Bank in Marshall where she had been employed.   According to prosecutors, Rechtzigel misappropriated funds for personal use over a period of 14 years, beginning in 1998.  She has been charged with one count of embezzlement by a bank officer.  Rechtzigel and her husband, Ken Rechtzigel, are reported to be the owners of The Brauhaus in Lucan, Minnesota, which they purchased in October 2008.  Hmmm.  I wonder where they got the money to do that...

Update (8/7/12):  Rechtzigel pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement by a bank officer.
Update (1/16/13): Rechtzigel, now 48, was sentenced to 2 years in prison and ordered to pay $1,013,018.27 in restitution.

John F. Losee, 61, of Waukesha, Wisconsin, has has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $800,000 from Heim Manufacturing Corp., where he had been employed as General Manager.  Losee's scheme spanned a reorted 6 years, from April 2003 to May 2009 where he issued more than 220 checks payable to the fictitious business Losee created.  In a plea agreement, Losee pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and filing a false federal income tax return. 

Update: Losee was sentenced to 21 months in prison.  The case was first investigated in 2009.



Robert Bruist

Robert Michael Eugene “Gene” Bruist, 35, of Fort Meyers, Florida, has been charged with embezzling about $900,000 from the non-profit Center for Independent Living of Southwest Florida, where he had served as Executive Director.  Authorities allege that Bruist converted state funding, federal grants, non-profit grants and personal donations for his own use to support "an extravagant lifestyle." Sadly, the non-profit has been shuttered. 

Marti Schrauben

Marti James Schrauben, 38, of Portland, Michigan, has been charged with embezzling nearly $500,000 from customers and insurance companies while he was an employee at Schrauben-Lehman Funeral Home.  The thefts spanned a two year period from 2008 through 2010.  Schrauben has been charged with 27 felony fraud counts. 

Update (3/5/13): Schrauben pleaded guilty to felony charges of uttering and publishing and no contest to counts of forgery, uttering and publishing, insurance fraud and embezzlement of more than $50,000.

Update (3/10/15): Schrauben seeks retrial after conviction for embezzling nearly $500,000 from funeral home clients.  Read the updated story here.

Arlene Francis Spinuzzi, 58, formerly of Apple Valley, California, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for embezzling more than $415,000 in welfare funds from the San Bernardino County Welfare Department where he had been employed as a welfare eligibility worker.  The sentenced was handed down after Spinuzzi pleaded guilty to 15 felony counts of misappropriation of public funds.  Spinuzzi reportedly authorized payments to her family members for child care services that were never provided.  Her family members including her husband, Michael Kenneth Debar, 57, her father Gerald Zibell, 82, and her daughter Sarah Debar Parks, 24, were indicted on a total of 90 felony counts of grand theft and misappropriation of public funds in February 2011.  Debar pleaded guilty to seven felony counts of misappropriation of public funds and was sentenced to 10 yearss in prison.  Parks pleaded guilty to one felony count of misappropriation of public funds and received a sentence of probation.  Zibell died this past April while awaiting trial. 


Sharon M. Cutter, believed to be 50, of Methuen, Massachusetts, has been charged with embezzling more than $100,000 from St. Ann's Home and School where she had served as chief financial officer.  Over a period of more than 6 years, from July 2006 to October 2012, Cutter reportedly used the non-profit's credit cards and petty cash to purchase items for personal use.  Cutter was a 23-year veteran employee of St. Ann's, a residential program for troubled youths and an affiliate of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. 


Angela Patrice Madison, 41, and Tracy Dione Jackson, 42, both of Minneapolis, Minnesota, have been charged with embezzling more than $1.6 million from ING, the international insurance and investment firm where they both worked.  Madison was responsible for handling ING clients who sought to obtain loans or surrender their life insurance policies and allegedly used the company's computer system to generate false statements in the name of various people, including Jackson.  Prosecutors allege that the two conspired to cause nearly 200 checks to be drawn on ING accounts for their own benefit.  The two have reportedly a history of filing for bankruptcy; Madison with a Chapter 7 liquidation in 2003 and Jackson with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 1997 and a Chapter 13 petition in 1998. 

Update (2/28/13): Madison was sentenced to 35 months in prison for her guilty plea on one count of aiding and abetting mail fraud.  Jackosn received 27 months for the same charge.  The fraud was comitted over a period of about 9 years from 2003 to 2012.

Walter Conkright Jr., 45, of Jamestown, New York, has been charged with embezzling more than $100,000 from the Jamestown Moose Lodge 1681 where he had served as an administrator.  He has been indicted on a single count of third-degree grand larceny.

Former Municipal Librarian In New York Sentenced For Embezzling $163K

Margo Reed, 54, of Yonkers, New York, has been sentenced to six months in jail for embezzling more than $163,000 from three public library branches in Yonkers where she had worked.  According to authorities, over a period of about 6 1/2 years, from July 7, 2004, to Dec. 7, 2010, Reed misappropriated library fine payments.  Reed pleaded guilty last February to felony charges of grand larceny and filing false tax returns.  Reed has blamed her actions in part to a gambling addiction. 

Read the story here.

Connecticut Man Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $348K From Non-Profit

William J. Lavimoniere, 51, of Plainfield, Connecticut, has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $348,000 from Project Genesis, Inc., a local non-profit that assists individuals with disabilities, where he had served as Chief Financial Officer.  According to authorities, over a period of more than 3 years, from June 2008 to September 2011, Lavimoniere siphoned funds from the agency by manipulating the payroll system and pocketing salaries from previously terminated employees.  He is reported to  have spent the money on personal expenses as well as travel, entertainment and home improvements.  Lavimoniere reportedly owes nearly $300,000 in back taxes, according to the IRS.  Specifically, Lavimoniere pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, one count of failure to file a tax return and one count of aiding or assisting in the filing of a false tax return.  He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 1, 2012.

Read the story here.

Read the DOJ announcement here.

Update (10/10/12): Lavimoniere was sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay full restutition.

South Carolina Woman Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $440K From Nursing Home

Tina Clinton

Tina Clinton, 36, of Newberry, South Carolina, has pleaded guilty to charges she embezzled more than $440,000 from the J.F. Hawkins Nursing Home where she had been employed as a bookkeeper.  According to authorities, over a period of about 4 years, from 2005 to 2009, Clinton pocketed social security and veteran's benefits checks intended for residents of the nursing home totalling $440,958.05.  Specifically, Clinton has pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement and five counts of filing false tax returns.  Clinton's plea agreement requires her to make full restitution.

Read the story here and here.

Update (10/16/12): Clinton was sentenced to 30 months in jail and ordered to pay full restitution.

Former California Municipal Councilman Indicted For Allegedly Embezzling As Much As $880K

John Keith Drayman, 54, of Glendale, California, has been indicted on charges he embezzled between $304,000 and $880,000 from the weekly Harvest Market, operated by the non-profit Montrose Shopping Park Association in Montrose, California, which he had founded.  According to prosecutors, over a period of 7 years, from 2004 through 2011, Drayman siphoned funds from the Association.  Drayman has been charged with one count of embezzlement, 10 counts of filing false tax returns, five counts of money laundering, three counts of forgery, one count filing a false financial statement and eight counts of perjury by declaration. 

Developing...

Read the story here and here.

Former California Municipal School Official Charged With Embezzling More Than $700K

William Douglas Agopian, 60, of Santa Ana, California, has been charged with embezzling more than $700,000 from the Lynwood Unified School District where he had served as chief business officer.  According to authorities, over a 4 year period, Agopian used school district funds to pay for personal expenses, his taxes and luxuries, including tickets to professional baseball games.  Agopian has been
charged with 21 felony counts including misappropriation of public funds, embezzlement by a public or private officer and filing a false tax return.  Prosecutors allege that Agopian siphoned the funds from an off-the-books account originally intended to pay for a trip to a Mexican sister city.

Read the story here and here.

Idaho Woman Sentenced In $1.3 Million Embezzlement Case

Connie A. Stills, 56, of Middleton, Idaho, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for embezzling $1.3 million from the Port of Hope Centers Inc., a non-profit drug and alcohol treatment concern where she had been employed as a bookkeeper.  According to prosecutors, Stills siphoned the funds over a period of four year, from 2004 until 2008, by writing checks from the non-profit's coffers to pay for her credit card bills and other personal expenses.  She plead guilty last September to felony counts of filing a false tax return and mail fraud.  Stills was also ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution.  Still's daughter, Bobbie A. George, 31, also of Middleton, plead guilty for her involvement in the theft of some $177,000 from the agency and was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay $233,024 in restitution.  Stills had been an employee of the agency for nearly 20 years, since 1991.

Read the story here and here.

Read the DOJ announcement here.

Former Corporate Counsel of Pennsylvania Hospital Charged With Embezzling $1.7 Million

Roosevelt Hairston, Jr., 45, of Malvern, Pennsylvania, has been charged with embezzling some $1.7 million from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia where he had served as General Counsel.  According to authorities, over a period of about 12 years, from 1999 until 2011, Hairston created eight shell companies, including Educational Strategies and The Children's Research Alliance, which he used to submit phony invoices to the hospital for various fraudulent expenses.  Hairston used the ill-gotten gains to support a lavish lifestyle, including purchases of luxury vehicles, a yacht, real estate and other personal luxury items.  According to the criminal information filing, Hairston used the identity of a friend and created an e-mail address in his friend's name to send e-mails to CHOP verifying the phony invoices.  Hairston, who was charged with mail fraud, money laundering, and filing a false tax return  is expected to enter a guilty plea, according to his lawyers.

Read the story here, here and here.

Update (7/13/11): Hairston pleaded guilty today to embezzling $1.7 million from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.  He faces up to 7 years in prison.

California Woman On Trial For Embezzling $750K

Jennifer Joann Zito, 37, of Chatsworth, California is currently on trial in Ventura County Superior Court for allegedly embezzling more than $750,000 from Simi Valley Cycles Inc., where she had been employed as a bookkeeper. Prosecutors have charged her with 16 felony counts of embezzlement, grand theft, and filing false tax returns. She is alleged to have misappropriated the funds over a period of at least 5 years, from 2001 until 2006. Zito is believed to have spent the stolen funds to support a lavish lifestyle, including the purchase of luxury vehicles, such as Porsche, BMW, a pickup truck, as well as six horses valued at $100,000, a speed boat and a custom horse trailer. 

Read the story here.

Update (4/25/11): Zito was found guilty by a jury on 18 felony counts for embezzling more than $750,000 from Simi Valley Cycles. Specifically, the jury found Zito guilty on six counts of embezzlement, seven counts of grand theft, and five counts of filing false income tax returns. She was found not guilty on identity theft and forgery counts. Zito faces up to 18 years in prison.

Update (6/6/11): Zito has been sentenced to 18 years in state prison for what is now believed to be $850,000 worth in cash and vehicles from Simi Valley Cycles Inc.  Zito was also ordered to pay $1,473,483 in restitution and $186,464 to the California Franchise Tax Board for back taxes on the ill-gotten gains.