U.S. District Court, Boston.
A Georgetown woman pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Boston to charges of embezzling more than $60,000 from her former employer.
Michelle Higson, 41, pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and two counts of uttering a forged security. U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencing for July 26.
Higson worked as a part-time bookkeeper at a Rowley-based company where she was responsible for handling the company’s accounts payable. From December, 2013, through January, 2015, Higson stole a series of the company’s checks and made them payable to cash. Higson then forged her employer’s signatures on the stolen checks, endorsed them herself, and deposited them for cash, which she used for personal expenses, the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston said.
To conceal her criminal conduct and avoid detection by company officials, Higson falsified entries in the company’s general ledger to make it appear as if the stolen checks had been issued to satisfy payment to bona fide vendors.
Another one! Don’t these businesses have proper audit procedures in place so they can nip this stuff in the bud? Throw the book at her, and when she is released, make her pay back EVERY PENNY she stole. Don’t care if she has to live in poverty. If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.