Former Comptroller of Albuquerque Construction Company Sentenced to Prison for Federal Fraud and Identity Theft Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE – U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez and Special Agent in Charge Waldemar Rodriguez of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in El Paso, Texas, announced today that Stephanie Pyle, 40, of Albuquerque, N.M., was sentenced for her conviction on fraud and aggravated identity theft charges.

Pyle was sentenced to 30 months in prison for her conviction on the fraud charge and 24 months in prison for her conviction on an aggravated identity theft charge.  Because the sentence on the identity theft charge must be served consecutive to the sentence on the fraud charge, Pyle was sentenced to a total of 54 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.  Pyle was also ordered to pay $2,409,901.00 in restitution to the victims of her criminal conduct.

Pyle was charged on Feb. 10, 2015, in a 12-count indictment alleging that between Jan. 2010 and May 2014, Pyle used credit cards and account numbers in her employer’s name without authorization and with the intent to defraud her employer.  Counts 1 through 6 of the indictment charged Pyle with defrauding her employer of approximately $1,531,124.00 during a five-year period.  Counts 6 through 12 of the indictment charged Pyle with using the identity of another person to commit the fraudulent acts charged in Counts 1 through 6.  At the time of the offenses charged in the indictment, Pyle was employed as the comptroller for the Albuquerque-based construction company that was the victim of Pyle’s criminal conduct.

On May 19, 2015, Pyle pled guilty to Counts 1 and 7 of the indictment.  In her plea agreement, Pyle admitted that while working as the comptroller for the company that was the victim of her criminal conduct, she obtained a credit card in her name that was linked to a credit card account in the name of one of the co-owners of the company.  Pyle changed the address on the account to reflect her home address so that her employer would not see the statements of expenditures made on the credit card.  Using her position as comptroller, Pyle arranged for the company to pay off the credit card balances on a frequent basis.  Pyle admitted making thousands of personal charges and purchases on the credit card that she was not authorized to make.  She also admitted using the name and credit card account of her employer without authorization to facilitate her criminal conduct.   

The case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of HSI and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Peña.