United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner
Eastern District of California
Citrus Heights Bookkeeper Charged With Million Dollar Fraud And Tax Evasion
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Thursday, May 10, 2012 |
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Docket #: 2:12-cr-174-GEB |
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that on Wednesday a federal grand jury in Sacramento returned an indictment against Kathe Rascher, 53, of Citrus Heights, charging her with 12 counts of mail fraud and five counts of tax evasion. Rascher was arrested today.
According to the indictment, Rascher, a bookkeeper for River Valley Insurance Associates Inc., defrauded her employer of more than $1.7 million and evaded paying income taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service for the tax years 2004 – 2008.
The indictment alleges that Rascher wrote checks to herself and her family members from the River Valley bank account. In order to make it look like the checks were issued for legitimate expenses, she changed the name of the payees on the unauthorized checks in the accounting records, altered carbon copies of the checks, and created fictitious invoices. She also reviewed the monthly bank statements and cancelled checks sent to River Valley and deliberately removed and destroyed any returned unauthorized checks that had been issued to her and her family. The indictment also alleges that Rascher did not disclose the embezzled income obtained from River Valley on her federal tax returns for tax years 2004 and 2005 and did not file federal tax returns for tax years 2006, 2007, and 2008.
This case is the product an investigation by the IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney S. Robert Tice-Raskin is prosecuting the case.
If convicted, Rascher faces a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in prison for each count of mail fraud and a fine of twice the gain or loss. The maximum statutory sentence for each count of tax evasion is five years in prison and a $500,000 fine. The actual sentence, if convicted, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory sentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
The charges are only allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
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