Georgetown Woman Sentenced for Embezzling over $60,000 Dollars from Employer

BOSTON – A Georgetown woman was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for embezzling over $60,000 from her former employer.

Michelle Higson, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to three months in prison, nine months of home confinement, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $60,290. In April 2017, Higson pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and two counts of uttering a forged security.

Higson worked as a part-time bookkeeper at a Rowley-based company where she was responsible for handling the company’s accounts payable by using the company’s accounting software program. From December 2013 through January 2015, Higson stole a series of the company’s checks and made them payable to cash. Higson then forged her employer’s signatures on the stolen checks, endorsed them herself, and deposited them for cash, which she used for personal expenses.

To conceal her criminal conduct and avoid detection by company officials, Higson falsified entries in the company’s general ledger to make it appear as if the stolen checks had been issued to satisfy payment to bona fide vendors. In total, Higson embezzled over $60,000.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb and Shelly Binkowski, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Paruti of Weinreb’s Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.