An Andover nanny pleaded guilty Monday in federal court, Boston, to stealing more than $130,000 from her employer.
Stacy Fortunato, 36, pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf who scheduled sentencing for Sept. 11.
Fortunato, who worked from November, 2014, to February, 2016, was given a credit card to make purchases solely related to her work, according to acting U.S. Attorney William D. Weinreb and Harold H. Shaw, special agent in charge of the FBI, Boston. Instead, she made unauthorized charges and cash withdrawals using the credit card on more than 800 occasions, ringing up a total of approximately $120,626. To conceal what she had done, Fortunato made unauthorized electronic transfers between her employer’s bank and credit card accounts. She also wrote checks for her own personal benefit on her employer’s bank account, forging her employer’s signature to the checks before cashing them. In total, Fortunato defrauded her employer of about $134,000, the court ruled.
Bank fraud laws provide for a sentence of no greater than 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Wire fraud statute laws provide for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Lock her up!