INDIANAPOLIS- Marie Carson, 72, of Indianapolis, Indiana, was sentenced to 2 years in federal jail after pleading responsible to wire fraud.
Based on court docket paperwork, from 2008 to 2021, Carson illegally transferred roughly $573,836.59 from the enterprise accounts of a Catholic church and associated faculty in Indianapolis to her personal private financial institution accounts. Throughout these 13 years, Carson was employed on the parish as a enterprise supervisor and was accountable for processing checks acquired from parishioners, conducting monetary transactions on behalf of the church and faculty, and was the only employees member accountable for managing the parish’s funds.
Carson’s scheme was uncovered in November of 2021, when she was on go away from her place. Carson’s non permanent alternative observed suspicious transfers from the parish’s gaming account to an exterior checking account. Additional investigation led to the placement of over $289,000 in transfers to a number of accounts, together with a phantom account created within the church’s identify.
Carson was in a position to preserve the scheme by making false entries into the database utilized by the parish to trace funds. A big sum of money was utilized by Carson and her husband for on line casino playing and an annual, month-long trip to Florida.
The precise financial loss is probably going a lot greater, as Carson admitted to church officers that she started this scheme in 2004.
“For greater than 13 years, this defendant abused her place of belief to embezzle cash from parishioners supposed for a church and faculty,” stated Zachary A. Myers, United States Legal professional for the Southern District of Indiana. “Her greed and want for lavish holidays outweighed her curiosity in following the dictates of our legal legal guidelines and the teachings of her church, ‘thou shalt not steal.’ The sentence imposed immediately sends a transparent message to those that would possibly search to steal, defraud, and embezzle: we’ll discover you, you can be prosecuted, and you can be held accountable.”
“This scheme was fueled by pure greed. For greater than a decade, the defendant abused the belief of the church and its parishioners to line her personal pocket,” stated FBI Indianapolis Particular Agent in Cost Herbert J. Stapleton. “Whereas she might have benefited within the quick time period, in the long run this perpetrator’s deception landed her behind bars. The FBI and our companions will proceed to establish and examine those that interact in a lot of these unlawful schemes and maintain them accountable.”
The FBI investigated this case with useful help supplied by IMPD. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Court docket Choose Chief Tanya Walton Pratt. Choose Pratt additionally ordered that Carson be supervised by the U.S. Probation Workplace for two years following her launch from federal jail and that she pay $573,836.59 in restitution.
U.S. Legal professional Myers thanked Assistant United States Legal professional James M. Warden, who prosecuted this case.
