Repeat Federal Offender Sentenced for Decade Long Embezzlement Scheme that Netted Over $1.3 Million Dollars

BOSTON – A former officer of a Woburn company was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Boston for embezzling over $1.3 million dollars from her employer over a ten-year period.

Dawnmarie Prince, 47, of Fitchburg, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Senior Judge Rya W. Zobel to four years in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $1,381,664.  In June 2016, Prince pleaded guilty to eight counts of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.  

Between 2000 and 2015, Prince worked as an office manager of a small, life science technology firm.  As office manager, Prince had access to the firm’s electronic accounting program, which the company relied on to track purchase orders and vendor invoices, as well as to print company checks.  From at least 2005 to May 2015, Prince used her position as office manager to create and steal hundreds of the company’s checks, which she made payable to herself or to her son.  Prince then forged her boss’s signature on the stolen checks, and deposited them into her personal bank accounts. 

To conceal her criminal conduct and avoid detection, Prince intercepted bank statements and removed all copies of the negotiated checks.  She also falsified entries into the accounting program to make it appear as if the checks had been used to satisfy legitimate vendors payments, when in fact, no such invoices were due and Prince had deposited the checks into her personal bank accounts.  Over the course of the fraud, Prince embezzled over $1.3 million dollars, which she used to fund trips to casinos, annual vacations, car purchases, and other personal and entertainment expenses such as trips to car shows across the country. 

In 2001, Prince was convicted in federal court in Boston of mail fraud for defrauding a previous employer and sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay restitution.  Prince was employed as a claims analyst for a subsidiary company of a Boston-based health plan.  Shortly after starting that job, Prince created and submitted numerous false medical provider claims to the health plan.  As a result, Prince received almost $50,000 in claims checks, which she endorsed and deposited into her personal bank account.  Prince’s recent fraud came to light after Prince provided false and incomplete financial information to the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Financial Litigation Unit, which was responsible for collecting the outstanding restitution payments on the 2001 case.  

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Shelly Binkowski, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Boston Division, made the announcement today.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jordi de Llano of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.