Houston Woman Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Former Employer

HOUSTON – A former employee of United Transport Tankcontainers Inc. (UTT) has been convicted of one count of wire fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson. Marcella Jones aka Marcella Jones-Hatch, 44, of Houston, pleaded guilty today, admitting she caused a loss of nearly $1.8 million to her former employer.

Hatch was hired in the accounting department at UTT in 2007. As part of her plea, she admitted that between July 2008 and August 2014, she executed a scheme to defraud her former employer. As part of her scheme, she created fraudulent payment requests and submitted them to UTT. As a result, the company then sent the payments to her personal bank account which she used for her own personal benefit. The estimated total losses to UTT as a result of the scheme was $1,796,945.67.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner accepted the plea to day and set sentencing for Dec. 30, 2015, at which time Jones faces up to 20 years imprisonment and a possible $250,000 maximum fine. She will remain in custody pending that hearing.

The charges are the result of an investigation by the Secret Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Braddock is prosecuting the case.