FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
August 12, 2011	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 2:09-CR-457 GEB

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that today United States District Judge Garland E. Burrell, Jr. sentenced Carrie Chaves, 32, of Sacramento, to seven years and three months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for access device fraud and theft and receipt of stolen mail. She was also ordered to pay $42,000 in restitution.

According to her plea agreement, Chaves used her job as a secretary to write $45,000 in checks for herself drawn on her employer's bank account. She used information obtained from her employer's mail and other sources to open bank accounts and get checks and credit cards. With the fraudulent checks and credit cards, she paid bills and bought personal items. The total loss was more than $70,000.

Chaves was originally scheduled to be sentenced on April 8, 2011, but she failed to appear. In sentencing, Judge Burrell increased Chaves's sentence for the failure to appear and said that because of her prior convictions for similar crimes, the greater sentence was necessary to deter crime and protect the public.

This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Morris prosecuted the case.

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