Smith County Woman Guilty of Federal Violations

TYLER, Texas – A 47-year-old Whitehouse, Texas woman has pleaded guilty to federal violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown today.

Shelly Hunter pleaded guilty to interstate transport of stolen funds before U.S. Magistrate Judge K. Nicole Mitchell on July 16, 2018.

According to information presented in court, from March 2005 until February 2017 Hunter was employed as the Business Office Manager for Peltier Chevrolet, Inc., an automotive dealership located in Tyler, Texas. Beginning March 2011, Hunter embezzled and stole funds belonging to the dealership.  She did so by way of nearly 250 unauthorized transactions, including ACH payments and checks.  Hunter then used the stolen funds to pay her personal credit cards.  In some instances, she mailed checks to pay her accounts.  She also directly wired funds from the dealership’s bank account to her credit card accounts.  Hunter used various means to conceal the theft of funds from the dealership.  These efforts included forging the signature of Peltier’s manager, initiating authorized payments, creating fraudulent entries in Peltier’s general ledger, and generating false bank reconciliations. 

                Under federal statutes, Hunter faces up to 10 years in federal prison at sentencing.  The maximum statutory sentence prescribed by Congress is provided here for information purposes, as the sentencing will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.  A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Coan.

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