Rebeca Paloukos Sentenced to Prison for Theft of Government Money

           SHAWN N. ANDERSON, United States Attorney for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that REBECA PALOUKOS, age 51, from Nimitz Hill, Piti, was sentenced today in District Court to a term of 18 months imprisonment for Theft of Government Money, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641. The Court also ordered Paloukos to serve three years of supervised release following her term of imprisonment. She must also pay restitution to the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in the amount of $295,414.40, in addition to a $100.00 special assessment.

          Paloukos and her mother had a joint bank account that was electronically funded by a Civil Service Retirement System annuity on a monthly basis. The defendant’s mother received the money as the surviving spouse of her deceased husband, a former federal employee. Following her mother’s death in 1997, Paloukos continued to withdraw money from the account as it was funded by OPM. OPM had not been informed of the mother’s death. Paloukos unlawfully received $295,414.40 over the period of the scheme.

          The investigation was conducted by agents of the Office of Personnel Management Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen F. Leon Guerrero.