Weymouth Woman Sentenced for Stealing $700,000 from Employer

BOSTON – A Weymouth woman was sentenced today in federal court in Boston in connection with a fraud scheme in which she stole approximately $701,826 from her employer.

Katelin Garland, 39, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to two years in prison, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $656,825. In November 2016, Garland pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud. Garland’s former employer previously recovered approximately $45,000 that Garland stole.

As an administrative manager for a company in Massachusetts, Garland was responsible for depositing checks received, maintaining the record-keeping system, and requesting checks payable for entities in connection with business services. From approximately October 2011 to October 2015, Garland took advantage of flaws in her employer’s accounting and auditing systems and requested checks payable to fictitious names, which she then endorsed and deposited to a bank account she controlled. To conceal the scheme, Garland made false entries in her employer’s record-keeping system concerning those payments. Garland used the funds to pay for living expenses, tickets to sporting events, private school tuition for her children, as well as to purchase a boat, travel and shop.

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 Mark J. Balthazard of Weinreb’s Economic Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.