Former Oregon Lumber Company Bookkeeper Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Nearly $1 Million
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon announced on November 4 that Christina Klauda, 53, of Riddle, Oregon, has pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and two counts of making and subscribing false federal income tax returns for a years-long embezzlement and tax fraud scheme that targeted her former employer. U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford announced the plea.
According to court documents, Klauda served as the office manager and bookkeeper for Tower Timber Services, Inc., a lumber company based in Riddle, beginning in 2014. In that role, she was responsible for payroll, accounts payable, invoicing, employee dispatch and preparation of employee tax forms.
Klauda admitted that she used her position of trust and control over the company's financial systems to systematically steal from Tower Timber from 2014 through 2023. The government estimates the company's losses at more than $1.08 million, while Klauda acknowledges losses of at least $944,371.97.
According to the plea agreement, Klauda began the scheme by increasing her hourly and overtime rates and overstating her work hours in the company's payroll system. Beginning in 2018, she created a second employee profile in the company's accounting software and arranged to receive duplicate payroll payments: one through direct deposit and a second through paper checks that she concealed by deleting records of the transactions. She also admitted using the company owner's signature stamp without authorization to issue additional checks to herself and her personal creditors, disguising the payments as loans, reimbursements or draws, removing the transactions from company records, and failing to report the income to the Internal Revenue Service.
As part of the scheme, Klauda filed false federal income tax returns for tax years 2018 and 2019 by failing to report income she had stolen: approximately $38,140 in 2018 and $74,144 in 2019, causing a total tax loss of $27,985.
The bank fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison, a $1 million fine and five years of supervised release. Each tax fraud charge carries a maximum of three years in prison, a $100,000 fine and one year of supervised release. Klauda has agreed to pay restitution, estimated between approximately $972,356.97 and $1,111,771.56, including losses to Tower Timber and the IRS. The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine A. Rykken. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 美国司法部总部大楼（联邦固定图库） / U.S. Department of Justice headquarters (federal fixed image library)
