Wife of Former Quad City Times Manager Convicted of Conspiracy, Fraud, and Money Laundering
Davenport, IA- On January 25, 2008, Julie Beasley, formerly of Taylor Ridge, Illinois, wife of former Quad City Times building and maintenance manager Earl Beasley, was convicted by a jury of all counts against her in connection with a scheme to defraud the Quad City Times and its parent, Lee Enterprises, announced United States Attorney Matthew G. Whitaker. Specifically, Beasley was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, 50 counts of mail fraud, one count of money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. United States District Judge John A. Jarvey presided over the trial.
Julie Beasley and Earl Beasley, while the latter was the building and maintenance manager at the newspaper, created two non-existent corporations, R&E Enterprises and Protech Corporation, and, using fictitious letterhead and invoices, billed the Times for enormous amounts of non-existent maintenance supplies. Earl, in his capacity as maintenance manager, approved the invoices, which caused the Times or Lee Enterprises to dutifully cut checks to R&E or Protech. Earl also used a Quad City Times credit card account to purchase numerous items for personal use.
Julie had established post office boxes for the two companies in separate locations in the Quad Cities, where the checks were mailed. Julie then would collect the checks from the post office boxes and deposit them in bank accounts, also located separately for each bogus company. The evidence showed that Julie personally maintained the R&E and Protech bank accounts, in the process writing $400,000 worth of checks to herself or “Cash”.
The fraud came to light after a routine audit of Earl Beasley’s use of the Quad City Times credit card. A subsequent investigation by the Davenport Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division revealed the fraudulent invoices for maintenance supplies.
This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, and Davenport Police Department.