Tina Coday-Townes, Embezzlement, Ohio 2021

Tina Coday-Townes, 49, Pleads Guilty to Embezzling $700,000 from Employer

CINCINNATI, Ohio – A local woman has admitted to embezzling over $700,000 from her family-owned business in Clermont County.

Tina Coday-Townes, 49, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, a federal crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison, in U.S. District Court today.

According to court documents, Coday-Townes served as the office manager for the business, where she was responsible for accounts payable and bookkeeping, including inputting and sending data to a third-party payroll company.

Between 2013 and 2019, Coday-Townes wrote checks using her employer’s signature stamp to pay off her personal credit cards, making false entries into the accounting database to conceal the theft. She also entered overtime hours for herself, despite being ineligible as a salaried employee.

As part of her plea agreement, Coday-Townes will pay $697,000 in restitution to her former employer, $11,500 to the State of Ohio for fraudulently paid unemployment benefits, and $35,000 to West American Insurance Company.

Coday-Townes was arrested by federal agents in April 2021.

The plea was announced by Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and J. William Rivers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division.

MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS

White Collar Crime

John C. Creighton, Tax Evasion, New York 2011

Nov 18, 2014

White Collar Crime

Franco Martinez, Money Laundering, California 2014

Jan 15, 2014

White Collar Crime

Mursuli Caballero, Healthcare Fraud, Florida 2018

Jan 15, 2018

White Collar Crime

Robert H. Bantleon, Wire Fraud, Nevada 2003

Jan 15, 2003