SALT LAKE CITY -- Pamela Jane Madsen, age 39, of Bluffdale, who pleaded guilty in January to mail fraud and money laundering in connection with a scheme to take approximately $1.3 million from her employer, will spend 46 months in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart imposed the sentence Monday. In addition to the prison sentence, Stewart ordered Madsen to pay $1,351,102.74 in restitution. She also must forfeit three snowmobiles and three four-wheelers. When she finishes her prison sentence, Madsen will be on supervised release for five years.

The case was investigated by special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

"The role of IRS-Criminal Investigation becomes even more important in embezzlement and fraud cases due to the complex financial transactions that can take time to unravel," said Jeanne Killoran, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Las Vegas Field Office. “We have a duty to honest, law abiding citizens to track down those who use deceit and fraud to line their pockets with other people’s money. This sentence sends a clear message that individuals who engage in this type of financial fraud should know they will not go undetected and will be held accountable."

According to documents filed in court, Madsen worked from May 2000 to October 2010 as a secretary at Professional Painting, Inc. (PPI), a commercial painting company in Murray. In 2007, her job duties expanded to include picking up the mail and filling out deposit slips for PPI’s bank deposits. Checks from PPI’s customers were made payable to Professional Painting, Inc. As a part of her duties, Madsen was responsible for preparing these checks for deposit into the business’s bank account.

In November 2007, Madsen opened a bank account in the name of Professional Painting, Incorp., a slight variation of PPI’s name. Madsen was the only authorized signer on the account. Between November 2007 and February 2010, Madsen deposited checks representing payment from PPI’s clients for services the company provided into her own account. To conceal the theft of the checks, she accessed PPI accounting records and made entries crediting the accounts of the customers whose checks she stole.

As a part of a plea agreement reached with federal prosecutors, Madsen admitted that on Feb. 12, 2010, she stole a check for $63,420.30, written by a construction company to her employer, and deposited it into her personal account. She admitted using the mail to complete the fraud.

She also admitted that in August 2009, she wrote a check for $20,000 to a construction company drawn on a bank account that comingled the proceeds of her theft scheme with money she earned from her employment. She admitted the check included money she stole from her employer, which is a violation of federal money laundering laws.