Office Manager Convicted Of Defrauding Former Employer Of More Than $400,000

HOUSTON – Carol Mack, 43, of Humble, has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and defrauding her former employer of hundreds of thousands of dollars, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson. 

As outlined in documents filed with the court and admitted by Mack during her guilty plea today, from approximately February 2005 through August 2012, Mack embezzled at least $400,000 from a Houston area plastics company. She wired corporate funds into her bank account, using a credit card terminal to make the wire transfers look like customer refunds. 

As part of her guilty plea, Mack admitted she worked at the company as an office manager and executive assistant to the company’s CEO. She had access to sensitive financial information and the ability to process credit card transactions using a point of sale terminal. Mack admitted that beginning in at least February 2005, she stole money from her employer by processing sham customer refunds on more than 500 occasions. She entered credit card numbers linked to her own bank accounts, then prompted the terminal to send refunds to those accounts. Mack admitted she spent the embezzled funds on herself. 

Mack also admitted that in order to conceal her scheme, she made false entries in the company’s general accounting ledger.  These entries offset the fraudulent customer refunds and made it seem as if the transactions had no cumulative impact on company accounts.

U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, who accepted the guilty plea today, has set sentencing for May 15, 2014. At that time, she faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 maximum fine or twice the pecuniary gain or loss.

The case is being investigated by the United States Secret Service and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pearson.