Donna Vukich Jailed for $510K Electric Co. Heist

Donna Vukich, 60, of Naknek, Alaska, is going to federal prison for stealing $510,181 from the nonprofit she was sworn to protect. As General Manager of Naknek Electric Association (NEA), Vukich didn’t just break trust—she torched it, funneling hundreds of thousands in federal-funded utility money into her personal life while hiding the theft in plain sight.

Vukich was sentenced yesterday by Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess to 34 months behind bars, followed by three years of supervised release. She pleaded guilty in January 2019 to theft concerning a program receiving federal funds and filing a false tax return. The repayment of $510,181 in restitution to NEA didn’t spare her prison time—but it won’t cover the damage to the remote community that relied on the cooperative.

From January 2011 through December 2015, Vukich wielded a company credit card like it was her personal ATM. She charged $51,000 on Norwegian Cruise Lines, $62,000 on Alaska Airlines flights, $16,000 at Little Creek Casino Hotel and Resort in Washington, and $7,000 at dōTERRA—all on NEA’s dime. College tuition for her daughter? Paid. Cash advances for herself and friends? Covered. Entertainment for her inner circle? On the house—NEA’s house.

As the top financial officer at NEA, Vukich controlled the books and manipulated them with precision. She falsified general ledger entries, rerouting personal charges through legitimate-seeming expense accounts to mask her fraud. There was no oversight, no alarm—just a manager treating a public utility like a private piggy bank.

But she forgot about the IRS. Vukich failed to report the stolen funds as income on her tax returns from 2011 to 2015. That deliberate omission triggered a $138,689 loss to the federal government—adding tax fraud to her growing list of crimes. The feds don’t like being played twice. They came back with a vengeance.

The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aunnie Steward and Anne Veldhuis. Vukich’s fall from local manager to federal inmate is a grim reminder: when you steal from a community, you’re not just stealing money—you’re stealing trust. And in Alaska’s bush country, that’s harder to replace than cash.