Briana Irene Roy, Wire Fraud, California 2014

Briana Irene Roy, a 38-year-old Hollister resident, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a scheme that defrauded her former employer of $247,387.45. Roy was employed in the marketing division of a local engineering company in San Jose, California, where she devised and implemented a scheme to use a company credit card on 80 separate occasions between March 2010 and February 2013.

Using the company’s credit card, Roy made charges to her personal PayPal account for her personal benefit, and attempted to conceal these activities by generating fake invoices and receipts for products and services in the name of another San Jose business. Through this fraudulent scheme, Roy admitted that she attempted to gain funds to which she was not entitled.

Roy was charged on December 13, 2013, with one count of wire fraud, in violation of Title 18 United States Code Section 1343. Under the plea agreement, Roy pleaded guilty to the single count and agreed to pay restitution for the full amount of the loss.

Roy is currently released on bond, with bail set at $50,000. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 23, 2014, at 10:00 a.m., before the Honorable D. Lowell Jensen, Senior United States District Court Judge, in San Jose.

The maximum statutory penalty for the single count in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 is 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, plus restitution in the agreed upon amount of $197,240.95. However, any sentence will be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Roy’s case is the result of an investigation by the United States Secret Service, with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Amie Rooney and the prosecution team.

Roy’s guilty plea brings an end to a lengthy investigation into the embezzlement scheme, and highlights the importance of vigilance in preventing and detecting white-collar crimes.

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