Montana Woman Sentenced for Embezzling $159,000
Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - A 58-year-old Columbia Falls woman, Teri Ann Bell, was sentenced this week in U.S. District Court in Missoula to five months in prison and ordered to pay restitution for embezzling nearly $160,000 from the Kalispell firearms manufacturer she worked for.
I spoke with Montana’s U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich about the case and the sentence.
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“A former bookkeeper for a Kalispell Firearms Manufacturing Company, who we allege, and she ultimately plead guilty to, that she embezzled about $159,000 while employed as a bookkeeper for that company over about a three year period,” began Laslovich. “She was doing that until the business found out and terminated her, however, she pushed back on that and threatened to sue them, but she was skimming that money over a period of time and doctoring the books and of course, spending the money for her own personal use.”
Laslovich provided more details about Bell’s sentence.
“We are pleased that she was held accountable,” he said. “Judge (Donald) Molloy in Missoula sentenced her to six months of home confinement as well as five months in federal prison. We insisted on the guidelines which included about 10 to 16 months in prison, so she fell within that if you tack on the home confinement, which he was permitted to do under the guidelines, and then we had insisted on a $20,000 fine, which he ordered, as well.”
Laslovich referred to Bell’s action as a ‘white collar crime’.
Laslovich Called it a 'White Collar Crime'
“In these ‘white collar crime’ cases, we insist that restitution being paid back to the victim is so important, and in this instance, the defendant has already paid most of the $174,000 to the victim. In this case, the Falkor SID Incorporated,” he said The reason it's $174,000 is they had to conduct an audit afterwards, and spent another $15,000 (on the case).”
Laslovich said his office, as well as all law enforcement offices, are highly trained and prepared to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.
READ MORE: Missoula News - Crime Reports
Laslovich Said Financial Crimes Can be Easily Traced by Authorities
“The one thing about money especially is that it can be traced, and in this instance, we're able to do that quite easily,” he said. “I think these things happen where the defendant, I don't know about this defendant, but any defendant thinks, ‘I'll just take a little bit, see if they notice, they don't notice, and then they overreach, and a little bit is too much, but certainly this amount will put you in our federal crosshairs.”
Laslovich said Bell pleaded guilty to wire fraud after the FBI and the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation.
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