Personal assistant sentenced after embezzling more than $2.1 million from long-time employer and friend

Date: June 25, 2024

Contact: [email protected]

Tulsa, OK - Today, U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill sentenced Christine Fletcher for Bank Fraud and Tax Evasion. Judge Hill ordered Fletcher to serve 36 months imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. She is further ordered to pay $2,188,870 to the victim and $549,964 to the IRS in restitution.

According to court documents, Fletcher was a trusted assistant for over 38 years and worked directly for the business owner. Fletcher had access to several bank accounts and was often included in family affairs. She took advantage of her deeply trusted position by repeatedly embezzling funds for nearly ten years. Fletcher deposited funds into her personal accounts and paid personal credit card bills by forging the owner's deceased spouse's signature on hundreds of checks. Fletcher admitted that her motives were based solely on greed. She further admitted to agents that until she was confronted by the owner and fired, she had no idea how much she had stolen.

Fletcher pled guilty in March 2023 and agreed that the restitution may not be discharged in any bankruptcy proceeding.

Fletcher was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

The IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) and the U.S. Secret Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney David D. Whipple and Thomas E. Buscemi prosecuted the case.

CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.