Valerie Olivares, Embezzlement, Alaska 2013

Alaskan Woman Sentenced for Role in Half Million Dollar Embezzlement Scheme

Anchorage, Alaska – In a shocking turn of events, a Texas woman has been sentenced to eight months in prison for her role in embezzling over half a million dollars from Trident Seafoods.

Valerie Olivares, 35 of Corpus Christi, Texas, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Ralph R. Beistline for her role in aiding Isairis Wolfe in embezzling $45,000 from Trident Seafoods.

The embezzlement scheme, which lasted from January 2008 to August 2010, saw Isairis Wolfe, a former bookkeeper for Trident Seafoods in Kodiak, Alaska, write Trident checks to four of her personal associates, including Valerie Olivares, Jeremy Smith, Anne Wilson, and Jamie Fathke.

Wolfe, using her check writing authority at Trident, drafted approximately 52 checks on a Trident account for approximately $500,000, and made them payable to her personal associates Wilson, Smith, Olivares, and Fathke, as well as to Wilson’s minor son L.E. The checks were negotiated by Wolfe and her associates and they shared the proceeds. Wolfe concealed the fraud by creating fraudulent accounting records so that the payments appeared to be legitimate.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Aunnie Steward, who prosecuted the case, Jeremy Smith negotiated 16 fraudulent checks, taking a break from the scheme only while he was incarcerated on unrelated weapons charges in 2009. Olivares negotiated three fraudulent checks. Smith and Olivares kept half of the money from the fraudulent checks and provided the remaining half to Wolfe.

The scheme came to an end when Wolfe was fired from Trident Seafoods for performance related reasons and was no longer in a position to write the fraudulent checks. The scheme was not discovered until after Wolfe was fired and a review of the books and records was conducted by Trident.

Valerie Olivares will serve eight months in prison for her role in the embezzlement scheme, which lasted from January 2008 to August 2010.

Other defendants in the case have already been sentenced. Isairis Wolfe is scheduled for sentencing on June 11, 2013. Jamie Fathke was sentenced on January 9, 2013, to four months jail for her role in aiding Wolfe in embezzling $30,000 from Trident Seafoods. Anne Wilson was sentenced on March 21, 2013, to 16 months prison for her role in aiding Wolfe in embezzling $289,000 from Trident Seafoods.

Ms. Loeffler commends the FBI for the investigation of this case.

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