AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC at 410-209-4885

October 25, 2006

GLEN BURNIE WOMAN SENTENCED TO 30 MONTHS FOR MAIL FRAUD

Diverted Employer’s Funds to Pay Over $135,000 in Personal Expenses

BALTIMORE, Maryland - Carol Ann Sprucebank, age 50, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release for mail fraud, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson also ordered Sprucebank to pay restitution of $135,783.97.

According to the statement of facts presented at her June 13, 2006 guilty plea, Sprucebank worked in the corporate accounting department of Storage USA in Columbia, Maryland from 1998 to 2002. Starting in November 1998, Sprucebank used her position to enter her personal creditor information into the corporate accounting system. Sprucebank caused checks to her creditors to be issued along with other legitimate Storage USA checks, keeping the amounts at or below $2,000 in order to use an automated signature. Sprucebank mailed the checks to her creditors, including several credit card companies and the Internal Revenue Service. During the course of this scheme, Sprucebank caused Storage USA to issue at least 117 checks totaling over $135,000.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the United States Secret Service for their investigative work performed in this case. Mr. Rosenstein also praised Assistant United States Attorney Richard C. Kay, who prosecuted the case.