This Feb. 2, 2015, photo depicts a part of a U.S. $100 bill. A LaFayette, Ga., woman has been sentenced to three years and a month in federal prison for embezzling more than $550,000 in company funds from Bec-Don, a rebar company in Ringgold, Ga.
Judy Elaine Henry, 50, was a manager of Bec-Don's office and was authorized to sign checks on the company's account. From about 2006 through 2014, she wrote more than half a million dollars in checks to herself, made false entries in the company checkbook and altered accounting records to make it appear that the checks had been issued to pay legitimate company expenses, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney's office in North Georgia.
"The sentencing of Ms. Henry in federal court holds her accountable for her eight years of theft from an employer who trusted her," said J. Britt Johnson, special agent in charge of the FBI's Atlanta Field Office. "The FBI, along with the Catoosa County Sheriff's Office, which assisted in the matter, fully understands how these types of thefts can adversely impact the bottom line of the victim company's financial stability."
Henry deposited some of the checks into her personal account, and used her own debit card to spend the money, prosecutors said.
She pleaded guilty to the charges.
After her prison term ends, she must serve five years of supervised release and pay $565,005 in restitution.