On Wednesday, August 30, 2017, United States Attorney Mark A. Yancey announced that a Mustang, Oklahoma woman had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and signing a false federal income tax return. Vanessa L. Pollard pleaded guilty to charges relating to a $1.3 million embezzlement from an insurance agency in Canadian County, Oklahoma. Pollard was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of signing a false federal income tax return on August 8, 2017.
Pollard worked as a bookkeeper with an insurance agency from April 1999 until early August of 2016. Pollard was responsible for reviewing monthly bank statements, making entries into the company’s internal accounting system, and reconciling those records with a business checking account at the Yukon National Bank.
The defendant was accused of writing checks and making interstate wire transfers from the business account to pay for her personal credit card accounts. She did so without permission or authorization. It was also alleged that Pollard manipulated bank statements in an attempt to hide the payments from the agency’s management. Pollard has now pleaded guilty to transmitting $3,178 through interstate wires with the intention of defrauding the agency in January of 2014.
As a part of her plea agreement, Pollard has agreed to forfeit property purchased with the embezzled money. This will include her house, two trucks, three motorcycles, a sports car, two jet skis, a boat, and a retirement account. Pollard claimed that the loss from her embezzlement was $1,344,915.02.
Pollard has also pleaded guilty to signing a false tax return. On May 13, 2013, the defendant signed a personal tax return for the 2012 calendar year. She knew the information provided was false, because it only reported $50,736 in income, when her real 2012 income was substantially higher. Pollard is expected to be sentenced in approximately 90 days. She faces up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud count and three years on the tax count.