Jane Barnes, Wire Fraud, Bank Fraud, Aggravated Identity Theft, Missouri 2023

State: Missouri
Category: Fraud &#038; Financial Crimes
Source: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/lees-summit-woman-pleads-guilty-stealing-53-million-employer" style="color:#cc0000;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">DOJ Press Release ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Â Ã¢â‚¬â€

Crime: Lee’s Summit Woman Pleads Guilty to Stealing $5.3 Million from Employer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Jane Barnes, 53, of Lee’s Summit, Mo., pleaded guilty in federal court today to embezzling nearly $5.3 million from her employer.

Jane Barnes, office manager of ACI Boland Architects, a prominent architecture company in Kansas City, Mo., began working for the company in 1998 and worked in the position until her resignation in March 2016.

According to the plea agreement, Barnes admitted to conducting two schemes to defraud and embezzle a total of at least $5,293,300 from ACI Boland. In the first scheme, which lasted from at least 2006 until 2011, Barnes used the payroll system to pay herself unauthorized amounts in excess of her approved salary/bonus.

In the second scheme, which began in 2010 and lasted until her resignation in March 2016, Barnes created unauthorized payroll checks to herself, which did not reflect on her W-2 forms. Barnes signed the checks with the forged signature of one of the principals of ACI Boland and deposited them into her personal bank accounts.

The investigation revealed that Barnes spent the embezzled funds on various expenses, including $1,969,210 in credit card payments, $770,393 in transfers to relatives, $425,493 in entertainment, retail and travel, and $302,636 in cash and cash equivalents.

Barnes is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole for wire fraud and up to 30 years in federal prison without parole for bank fraud, plus a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years in federal prison without parole for aggravated identity theft.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen D. Mahoney. It was investigated by the FBI.

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