Ex-bookkeeper gets 2+ years for embezzling from Anderson schools
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A former bookkeeper from Anderson will spend more than two years in federal prison for embezzling nearly $1 million from the Anderson Community School Corporation.
A federal judge sentenced 63-year-old Carla Burke to nearly 2-1/2 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to wire fraud and falsifying tax documents.
Federal prosecutors say Burke served as the bookkeeper for the school corporation’s food service department beginning in 2007. Her duties included maintaining financial records, bank accounts, and vendor invoices and issuing checks in the department’s name for payments to vendors.
According to the Department of Justice, Burke “issued checks in the name of ACSC Food Service to herself as the payee and then cashed the checks at her personal bank” between Jan. 1, 2014, and June 30, 2019.
Burke falsified records by writing that the person receiving the checks was a vendor, rather than herself, and then used the money to pay for gambling and other personal expenses.
In order to conceal her scheme, Burke failed to report more than $225,300 in income on five years of tax returns, then lied to federal agents about her activities.
Federal prosecutors say the Indiana State Board of Accounts discovered the wrongdoing during a routine audit.
In total, Burke cleared approximately 312 fraudulent checks totaling $976,773.29.
“The defendant stole nearly a million dollars intended to put food in the mouths of children to satisfy her own greed,” Zachary A. Myers, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said in a statement. “Public employment is a public trust, and the sentence imposed today shows that those who violate that trust will be held accountable.”
After her release from federal prison, Burke must serve 3 years on probation. She was also ordered to pay $976,772 in restitution to Anderson Community Schools and $141,190 to the IRS.
