Fraud Scheme Leads to Prison for Former Oklahoma Insurance Firm Employee

The former employee of an insurance company faces two years in federal prison and more than $168,000 in restitution after being sentenced on a fraud conviction by U.S. district judge in Oklahoma City.

Carla Jo Mires, of Oklahoma City, was sentenced by United States District Judge Joe Heaton for embezzling money from her employer by forging checks and for filing a false tax return, according to Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. Mires was also ordered to pay $168,386.89 in restitution to the IRS and the victims of her embezzlement scheme.

Mires worked for Union Mutual Insurance Co. in the accounting office. She was charged with forging a check from Union Mutual that went to Mires’ personal account.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office also said Mires filed a false tax return for 2008 by failing to report as income the money she had embezzled from her employer.

Mires was charged on August 14, 2014 and pled guilty on Sept. 3.She agreed to pay restitution to the IRS and for all the losses sustained by the victims related to her embezzlement scheme.

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Heaton ordered Mires to serve three years of supervised release after she completes her 24-month prison term. She was ordered to report to the Bureau of Prisons on Jan. 13, 2015, to begin serving her prison sentence.

This case is the result of a joint investigation conducted by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Travis D. Smith.

Source: Office of U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma