Former Employee of Realty Company Sentenced for $250K Fraud

NORFOLK, Va. – A former accounting manager at a Hampton Roads realty company was sentenced today to 37 months in prison for embezzling over $255,000 from her employer.

Lindsay Kneff, 37, of Virginia Beach, pleaded guilty on January 17 to wire fraud and engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property. According to a statement of facts filed with the court, Kneff was employed in a managerial position for the Virginia Beach office of Rose & Womble Realty Company, where she was responsible for overseeing the processing of commissions and accounts payable. Over an 18-month period from January 2014 to August 2015, Kneff wrote checks on the Rose & Womble operating account to pay her personal expenses, including electricity and utility bills. Kneff also made unauthorized wire transfers of company funds into her own bank accounts, and she fraudulently altered approximately 284 Rose & Womble money orders by writing in her own name as the payee.

Kneff attempted to conceal her fraud by creating fictitious vendors in the company’s accounting software to make it appear that the vendors had received wire transfers of company funds. Kneff’s conduct resulted in a loss to the company of $255,147.20, and she was ordered by the court to pay restitution in that amount.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and George D. Purefoy, Resident Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Norfolk Resident Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan M. Salsbury prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:16-cr-139.