South Carolina Woman Pleads Guilty To $1.7 Million Embezzlement Scheme

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Kristin Turney, 54, of Catawba, South Carolina, pleaded guilty in federal court today to wire fraud for embezzling more than $1.7 million from her employer, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Robert M. DeWitt, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in North Carolina, joins U.S. Attorney King in making today's announcement.

According to court documents, from 2016 to 2023, Turney executed a scheme to defraud her employer, a Charlotte-based company, by embezzling more than $1.7 million. Turney was in charge of the company's financial matters, including bank accounts, payroll, accounts payables and receivables, and tax filings. As part of the scheme, Turney misused her access and control over the company's bank accounts and books and records to write company checks to herself without proper approval or authorization and then deposited the checks into bank accounts under her control. As a result, Turney caused at least 1,000 fraudulent and unauthorized deposits totaling more than $1.7 million to be made from the bank account of the victim company to Turney's bank account. Turney then covered up the fraud by, among other things, making false accounting entries in the company's books and records, providing false information to the company's tax return preparer, and giving false information to the company's owner and employees. Turney generally spent the embezzled funds to pay for personal expenses, that included hundreds of thousands of dollars in shopping trips, car payments, mortgage payments, tuition payments, and vacation expenses.

The wire fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In making today's announcement, U.S. Attorney King thanked the FBI for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Caryn Finley of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte is prosecuting the case.