A woman who worked as a claims accountant for a family owned company in Northern Iowa was sentenced today to two and one-half years in federal prison for embezzling more than $175,000 from her employer.

Patricia Freebury, age 34, from Stacyville, Iowa, received the prison term after pleading guilty in August to bank fraud and possession of firearms as a felon. Freebury was previously convicted on March 5, 2007, in the Iowa District Court for Cerro Gordo County, of the felony crime of First Degree Theft for embezzling approximately $25,000 from a former employer.

In a plea agreement and at the sentencing hearing, Freebury admitted that over a two year period, from August 2009 to August 2011, she carried out a fraudulent scheme to steal money from her employer. Using her position as a claims accountant, Freebury wrote more than 200 company checks made payable to herself in amounts ranging from $250.00 to over $900.00 and forged the owner’s signature on the checks. To conceal the embezzlement, Freebury falsified company records to make it appear that the checks were made payable to various venders. Freebury used the proceeds of her crime to buy vehicles and other personal property. She also used a portion of the money she embezzled from this employer to pay restitution to her former employer for the money she previously embezzled. During a search of Freebury’s residence, officers seized 13 firearms.

Freebury was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Freebury was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $200 was imposed, and she was ordered to make $175,539.82 in restitution. She must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Freebury was taken into custody by the United States Marshals and will be held in custody until she can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney C.J. Williams and investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Floyd County and Mitchell County Sheriff’s Offices, and the Iowa State Patrol.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 12-cr-2022.

 

 

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