Midland Woman Pleads Guilty To 16 Year Embezzlement Scheme
By: Dylan Brooks
Updated: November 16, 2012
MIDLAND -- A Midland woman has pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud charges.
Dora Thea Arreguy pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud and aggravated identity theft charges in a Midland federal courtroom on November 15th.
Federal prosecutors say that Arreguy, 51, wrote $920,316.86 in checks to herself from her company's payroll account using forged signatures over a 16-year period.
Since Arreguy was an office manager at her company, she reportedly had signatory authority to sign checks, but a second signature was also required.
Prosecutors say Arreguy forged the second signature repeatedly to get the checks -- thereby committing aggravated identity theft.
Arreguy reportedly altered her company's accounting records to reflect false time sheets.
Arreguy also reportedly manipulated payroll records of at least 135 other employees to reflect that the money she paid herself was money that had been earned by the other employees.
The affected employees never actually received additional money, but instead unwittingly reported a higher gross income on their W-2 statements.
As a result of the higher W-2 figures, the other employees would have been required to pay more in taxes or receive less of a refund due to the overstated earnings that they never actually received.
Arreguy now faces a mandatory 2 year federal prison term for aggravated identity theft violation.
Arreguy also faces up to a 30 year federal prison term for the bank fraud charges.
A sentencing date for Arreguy has not yet been set.
The investigation into Arreguy's crimes was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Dora Thea Arreguy pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud and aggravated identity theft charges in a Midland federal courtroom on November 15th.
Federal prosecutors say that Arreguy, 51, wrote $920,316.86 in checks to herself from her company's payroll account using forged signatures over a 16-year period.
Since Arreguy was an office manager at her company, she reportedly had signatory authority to sign checks, but a second signature was also required.
Prosecutors say Arreguy forged the second signature repeatedly to get the checks -- thereby committing aggravated identity theft.
Arreguy reportedly altered her company's accounting records to reflect false time sheets.
Arreguy also reportedly manipulated payroll records of at least 135 other employees to reflect that the money she paid herself was money that had been earned by the other employees.
The affected employees never actually received additional money, but instead unwittingly reported a higher gross income on their W-2 statements.
As a result of the higher W-2 figures, the other employees would have been required to pay more in taxes or receive less of a refund due to the overstated earnings that they never actually received.
Arreguy now faces a mandatory 2 year federal prison term for aggravated identity theft violation.
Arreguy also faces up to a 30 year federal prison term for the bank fraud charges.
A sentencing date for Arreguy has not yet been set.
The investigation into Arreguy's crimes was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
