North Carolina Man Indicted On Charges He Allegedly Stole More Than $400K From Bank ATMs He Serviced

John Michael Feltovic, 43, of Fayetteville, North Carolina has been indicted on charges he embezzled more than $400,000 from four area banks whose ATMs he serviced through his employer, Colorado-based Pendum, LLC. According to prosecutors, Feltovic pocketed some $300,000 in cash at 17 area ATMs for BB&T, First Citizens and two subsidiaries of U.S. Bank, which he was entrusted to service and restock. He is also charged with stealing $104,000 from one of the bank's vaults. Feltovic's schemes reportedly began in December 2010 and continued until this February.

Read the story here.

Maryland Woman Indicted For Allegedly Embezzling $275K

Sandra Iris Klaus, 46, of Hampstead, Maryland, has been indicted on charges she embezzled more than $275,000 from an unnamed roofing and sheet metal company based in Westminster, Maryland where she had been employed as an administrative assistant and bookkeeper. Specifically, Klaus was indicted on 12 counts of mail fraud for orchestrated a scheme that spanned more than four years, from January 2007 until March 23, 2011, whereby she caused company funds to pay for her personal credit cards in fraudulent EFTs, issued payroll checks to bogus employees which she deposited into her own accounts and and endorsed receivable checks payable to the company to herself. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of a total of $275,456.43. Research suggests that the victim company is Tri-County Roofing & Sheet Metal, Inc.

Read the story here.

Read the DOJ announcement here.

Update (2/10/12): Klaus pleaded guilty to mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and filing a false tax return in connection with a scheme to embezzle what is now believed to be $313,000 from her employer, believed to be Tri-County Roofing & Sheet Metal, Inc. 

Georgia Woman Sentenced For Embezzling $350K

Clara June Allen, 40, of Clarkesville, Georgia, was sentenced today to 30 years, with only 3 years served in prison followed by 2 years of house arrest, for embezzling more than $350,000 from Mencom Corporation where she had been employed as a bookkeeper. According to authorities, Allen's thefts spanned about a four and a half year period, from October 2003 until March 2008, whereby she wrote checks from company coffers to a company co-owned by she and her husband called D&J Contracting. Allen's husband, Dale Allen, has also been charged with theft by taking in this case which has yet to be resolved. Clara June Allen, who was originally indicted in December 2009, is also alleged to have paid her personal credit card bills online with company funds and to have inflated her time cards in order to receive pay to which she was not entitled.

Read the story here and here.

Texas Woman Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $355K & Tax Evasion Charges

Misti D. Rieger, 50, of Fort Worth, Texas, pleaded guilty today to charges she embezzled more than $355,000 from Pharmacy Healthcare Solutions where she had been employed as an accounting supervisor. According to prosecutors, over a period of about 4 years, between 2003 and 2007, Rieger forged at least 87 company checks totalling $355,391, which she deposited into her own personal accounts. Rieger also pleaded guilty to tax evasion for her 2007 return filed jointly with her husband. She faces up to 5 years in prison, plus fines, back taxes and restitution, upon sentencing, which is scheduled for July 2011.

Read the story here.

Update (7/26/11): Rieger was sentenced to 18 months in prison. 

Washington State Woman Charged With Embezzling Nearly $400K

Angela Jones Ver Hoeven, 46, of Tulalip, Washington, has been charged with embezzling some $396,000 from the Tulalip Tribe's Liquor Store and Smoke Shop where she had been employed as a clerk/cashier. According to authorities, Jones Ver Hoeven routinely would steal cash from sales on muliple cartons of cigarettes purchased, ringing up fewer than sold and pocketing as much as $800 a day. The scheme spanned a reported 2 1/2 year period from January 2008 through August of 2010. She is reported to have lost a significant amount of money while gambling at the Tulalip tribe's Quil Ceda Creek Casino.

Read the story here, here and here.

Former Bookkeeper For Restaurants Charged With Embezzling $186K

Shawn M. Dragman, 52, of Glenview, Illinois, has been charged with embezzling more than $186,000 from family owned Hackney's Restaurants where she had been employed as a bookkeeper and formerly as a waitress. According to authorities, beginning in July 2008 and continuing for 2 years, Dragman took cash receipts from the restaurant and deposited restaurant checks into accounts in the name of her and her husband, David J. Dragman, 64, to cover the shortfall. Shawn Dragman, who was arrested on March 17, had been employed by the restaurant chain for about 25 years, beginning as a waitress. David Dragman has apparently not been charged at this time.

Read the story here, here and here.

Update: California Woman Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $134K From Boys & Girls Club - Spends Stolen Money On Breast Implants

Lynette Rojas, 37, of La Habra, California, pleaded guilty to charges she embezzled $134,540 from the La Habra Boys and Girls Club where she had been employed as executive assistant and bookkeeper. According to authorities, Rojas stole more than $109,000 in cash receipts and issued herself 2 dozen unauthorized paychecks totaling nearly $25,000. Rojas reportedly used some of the stolen funds to pay for breast implants. She plead guilty to one felony count of grand theft by embezzlement, and 24 felony counts of computer access fraud. Meanwhile the Boys and Girls Club was forced to lay off staff and cut programs to cover the shortfall.

Read FraudTalk's earlier post on this story here.

Read the story here and here.

Update (4/18/11): Rojas has been sentenced to 3 years in prison.

Former Vassar College Employee & Wife Arrested For Allegedly Embezzling Nearly $2 Million

Arthur H. Fisher, 44, and his wife, Jennifer Fisher, 38, both of Ossining, New York, were arrested and charged in Dutchess County today with embezzling nearly $2 million from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie. According to authorities, Arthur Fisher, who had been employed by the college as project manager from 2005 until 2010, orchestrated a scheme involving a phony construction company he and his wife set up with a fraudulent bank account, into which college funds were deposited. They have both been charged with first-degree grand larceny, presumably because prosecutors believe Jennifer Fisher participated and/or benefited from the scheme to which she had knowledge. Poughkeepsie police executed a search warrant at the Fisher home in Ossining where various luxury items were seized per court order, including four late model BMWs, a Ford F150 truck, three Rolex watches , 10 unregistered handguns, one .223 caliber military style rifle, along with various fraudulent law enforcement badges from the NYPD, FBI, ATF and the DEA, among other items. Details are still sketchy as to the specifics of the alleged embezzlement, however, the seizure of the weapons and false law enforcement identification suggests that there may have also been a concern about threats and potential violence.

Read the story here, here, here and here.

Update (5/21/11): A Dutchess County Grand Jury has handed down formal indictments of both Arthur and Jennifer Fisher. The theft now stands at $2.5 million after accounting for an additional $600,000 stolen through falsified invoices and a second fictitious company called Good Shepherd Construction. Another individual, Christopher DeSanto, 31, of Ossining, New York, allegedly was involved with the Fishers' scheme and has been charged in connection with that part of the theft. The other fake company was known as C&R Construction.

Read an update on the story here.

Washington State Man Sentenced For Embezzling $440K From Bank

Edgar Hugh Kelly, 37, of Tacoma, Washington, was sentenced to 33 months in prison for embezzling some $440,000 from the KBR Credit Union where he had been employed as a teller and an office manager. According to authorities, Kelly engaged in an "elaborate scheme" to misappropriate money from the credit union, which serves employees of Simpson Construction, over a period of "several years." The scheme reportedly involved strategically timed fund transfers and altered financial documents. Kelly's thefts were discovered after he submitted false documents to auditors. Kelly, who was originally charged in October 2010, plead guilty last November theft from a lending, credit, or insurance institution.

Read the story here and here.

Update: Kelly was sentenced to 33 months in prison.

California Woman Accused Of Embezzling $118K

Laura M. Ilharreguy, 46, of Placentia, California, has been charged with embezzling more than $118,000 from an unnamed information-technology and office-equipment business in Yorba Linda where she had been employed. According to authorities, Ilharreguy used a company credit card to make online purchased for her own benefit. Research suggests that the victim company is Evrex Corporation. Details of the embezzlement are scant at this time...

Read the story here.

California Couple Arrested For Embezzling $100K From Jaycees

Eric Wayne Stroschein, 49, and Judith Ann Stroschein, 46, both of Blythe, California, have been arrested and charged with embezzling more than $100,000 from the Blythe Jaycees where Eric had served as treasurer. According to authorities, Eric Stroschein made withdrawals from the Jaycees account and deposited the monies into his own and his wife's accounts. It is unclear how long the thefts have been going on. However, the police were notified last July when the Jaycees' president discovered its account virtually depleted. The couple own a business called Studio 10, a hair and nail salon where they were arrested Wednesday. The two have been charged with felony embezzlement and conspiracy.

We note that Studio 10 had its grand opening this past November. Gee, I wonder where the seed money for the business came from? What is in the water in Blythe, California? This is the second case this week involving a major embezzlement by a resident of that town (see the Lathan Willams case below and here).

Read the story here and here.

Calfornia Man Accused Of Embezzling $250K From Public Cemetery

Lathan Duane Williams, 47, of Blythe, California, has been accused of embezzling more than $250,000 from the Palo Verde Cemetery District, where he had served as manager for the Blythe Cemetery. According to authorities, Williams siphoned funds from customers who made pre-payments for plots as well as unauthorized payment for extended vacation and unclaimed sick time and other fraudulent reimbursement schemes. Prosecutors claim that Williams began misappropriating from the cemetery in 2003 and continued until August 2008. Williams had been employed as manager of the facility since 1993.

Read the story here and here.

Former Controller For California Company Charged With Embezzling $317K

Michael Thomas Reid, 44, of Stockton, California, has been charged with embezzling some $317,000 from Fuel Delivery Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Van De Pol Enterprises, where he had served as company controller. According to authorities, over the course of about 5 years, from 2006 until January 2011, Reid wrote checks to himself totaling about $139,000 and made about $178,000 in personal charges on company credit cards.

Read the story here and here.

Missouri Woman Indicted For Allegedly Embezzling $170K

Tammeria L. Patrick, 48, of Florissant, Missouri, has been indicted on federal charges she embezzled as much as $170,000 from Urban Investigation Security where she had been employed as the payroll and accounts receivables manager. According to authorities, Patrick paid herself extra salary by manipulating the payroll, took health insurance premiums from other employees and opened a business credit card account which she used for her own benefit. Her scheme spanned about a year and a half, from January 2008 until July 2009. Patrick faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the one count of wire fraud, plus fines and restitution.

Read the story here and here. Read the DOJ announcement here.

Update (10/26/11): Patrick has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $161,000 in restitution.  She plead guilty this past June to one felony count of wire fraud.  According to reports, Patrick wrote more than $157,000 in company checks to herself, plus directed several thousand dollars in insurance premiums to herself.

Missouri Woman Pleads Guilty To Embezzling More Than $2 Million

Karen A. Backues, 45, of Platte City, Missouri, has pleaded guilty to charges she embezzled more than $2 million from GBA Master Series, Inc., of Overland Park, Kansas, where she had been employed as chief financial officer. According to authorities, Backues forged company checks to the tune of $220,000 in a nine month period in 2009 which were deposited into a joint account for she and her husband. Further investigation revealed that Backues has misappropriated more than $2 million, according to reports. Backues and her husband, Bryan K. Keil, 44, own two local liquor stores called Olive or Twist Liquor Stores. Keil has not been charged in the case. Karen Backues was originally charged in February 2010 and pleaded guilty today to 3 counts of embezzlement and 3 counts of forgery.

Read the story here and here.

Update (6/2/11): Backues, now 47, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Backues reportedly has a prior conviction for embezzlement in 1997.

West Virginia Woman Charged With Embezzling $140K From Law Firm

Lisa R. Buttermore, 40, of Morgantown, West Virginia, has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $140,000 from the law firm of Gianola, Barnum, Wigal & London, where she had been employed. According to prosecutors, Buttermore misappropriated the monies over a period of about two years, between 2008 and 2010. She was originally arrested and charged last July.

Details are scanty...

Read the story here.

We note the last time a Morgantown citizen was involved in a major embezzlement was the case of Amy Marie Mick, now 33, who pleaded guilty to embezzling some $130,000 from the Morgantown POPARC and was sentenced to 5 years in jail.

Update (6/1/11): Buttermore was sentenced to five years' probation and suspended a 3 to 30 year prison sentence.