U.S. v. Ms. C (DMC No. 11750) – (2 Counts) Federal Felony Embezzlement ($780,697 Misappropriated from Federal Credit Union) – Reduced to 12 Months and One Day in Prison – United States District Court, District of Arizona (Case No. 2:13-CR-00867-PHX-SRB-1).
Ms. C’s parents were both involved in a serious motorcycle accident and her mother was given a 1 percent chance of living while her father was in a wheelchair for several months. Ms. C stepped in and took responsibility for all of her family’s needs. Her mother, who normally managed the family’s finances, had a serious brain injury so Ms. C took over this responsibility as well. She quickly became overwhelmed caring for her siblings and her parents, all while maintaining the household responsibilities. This ultimately led to her using crystal meth so she could stay awake in order to care for her family.
She became addicted and her life quickly spiraled out of control. She made a series of poor decisions with her family’s finances, and she started gambling in order to escape the increased pressures and responsibilities. This put her family further and further into debt, and she eventually depleted all of her parents’ savings. Once her father noticed problems with the bank account, she tried to correct the problem before he could fully discover what had occurred. This is when she decided to misappropriate money from her employer at the Pinal Federal Credit Union until she could pay it back. This amount eventually grew to $780,697 before the Embezzlement was discovered.
We became involved in the case, and were able to bring in a Mitigation Specialist to conduct a complete evaluation on Ms. C. We also presented the Prosecutor with further evidence of her being physically and mentally abused by her husband, who was also a drug addict. During the pendency of the case, her husband was killed in an apparent drug deal gone bad. In addition, her one and a half year old daughter had recently undergone surgery to remove a cyst on her spine and was paralyzed from the surgery. Even though Ms. C was charged with 2 counts of Embezzlement under 18 USC 657, and even though she had Embezzled almost $800,000 the Judge issued a “downward departure” and Sentenced Ms. C. to only 12 months in custody. Originally, Ms. C was facing 30 years in prison.