Former Office Manager for Lincoln Family Wellness Sentenced for Wire Fraud

United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that Valerie M. Stevens, 36, formerly of Lincoln, Nebraska, was sentenced Tuesday in Lincoln, Nebraska, to 15 months in prison by United States Senior District Judge Richard G. Kopf, for wire fraud.  In addition to the prison sentence, Ms. Stevens will also be required to pay restitution in the amount of $222,322.43 and serve three years on supervised release.

From January, 2011, until October, 2016, Valerie M. Stevens served as the office manager for Lincoln Family Wellness, P.C.  During this period of time Stevens was given use of a Pinnacle Bank Visa card, in the name of Lincoln Family Wellness.  The credit card was billed to Lincoln Family Wellness and Stevens at their business address in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Stevens was provided the credit card for the exclusive purpose of paying for office expenditures and was aware that she was not authorized to use the Visa credit card for the purchase of personal items. 

During this period of her employment, Stevens made numerous unauthorized charges to the Visa card, to pay for personal expenses for herself and others.  Once the Visa card bills were received in the office, Stevens would then pay for these unauthorized personal credit card charges by using the proceeds of Lincoln Family Wellness, P.C.  In total, Stevens charged over $130,000 in personal expenses on the Visa credit card.  

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.