SANTA ANA, CALIF.
A federal judge sentenced a former office manager for an independent sporting goods distributor to three years in federal prison for embezzling nearly $370,000 from her Los Alamitos-based employer, according to officials.
U.S. District Judge James V. Selna sentenced Julianna James England, 51, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and ordered her to pay $368,152 in restitution to Callan Western Sales company, according to officials.
From March 2003 until July 2007, officials said England wrote at least 55 checks payable to either herself or her creditors totaling more than $33,000.
To hide her theft, England wrote false notations on the check stubs to indicate payment to a legitimate company vendor. After using these checks for her personal use, she altered the company’s bank statements and provided these altered statements to the CPA, officials said.
England also used company credit cards for unauthorized expenses which totaled nearly $280,000.
She used Visa and American Express credit cards issued to Callan Western Sales for personal expenses and made unauthorized online payments from the company’s bank account in an attempt to conceal the unauthorized purchases.
“Ms. England used her position of trust to take advantage of a small business whose owners employed her for several years and which, ultimately, was rendered insolvent due to her criminal actions,” said Deirdre Fike, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “Agents and detectives at the FBI and the Los Alamitos Police Department should be commended for their investigation of this fraud, and for building a case for prosecutors to deliver justice to the victim company.”
Following a trial in February, a jury convicted England of three wire fraud charges for using company checks and credit cards to embezzle money from her former employer, Callan Western Sales Company.
England was hired by Western Sales in 2000 to be a part-time secretary and office manager in charge of office administration, which included preparing checks for the signature of Michael Callan, the company’s founder. England was also in charge of maintaining the company’s check ledger, coding the payments, and providing monthly bank statements to the company’s accountant.
The evidence at trial showed that England used company credit cards and wrote company checks to herself to obtain the company’s funds. As part of her scheme, she altered company records and created false bank stubs to give to the company’s accountant.
England has been in custody since her conviction earlier this year.