Ex-U.S. Forest Service accountant gets 4 years for embezzling more than $1.4M

LOS ANGELES - A former U.S. Forest Service accountant was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzling more than $1.4 million from the agency, federal prosecutors said today.

Kathy Stamps, 39, of Rancho Cucamonga, was convicted after a bench trial in September in Los Angeles federal court on three counts of mail fraud in the embezzlement scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

In addition to the 48-month prison term, U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder on Monday ordered Stamps to pay restitution of $1,090,744, which represents the portion of the embezzled money that Stamps spent. It was unclear if she had the means to pay.

Stamps was an accountant at the Angeles National Forest offices in Arcadia, where she had access to funds contributed by private for road construction and other projects on federal lands.

From early 2002 through October 2004, Stamps fraudulently manipulated and fabricated Forest Service records that caused the U.S. Treasury to issue six refund checks totaling $1,421,390 to entities that Stamps controlled, prosecutors said.

Stamps spent nearly $1.1 million on cars, jewelry, mortgage payments and plastic surgery. When the embezzlement was discovered, the government was able to seize $330,645 from Stamps' bank accounts, authorities said.

During the nearly three years that she was embezzling money, Stamps "exhibited a complete disregard for the law," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18323402?source=rss

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