Not quite the $1Million mark, but impressive nontheless…
PROVIDENCE — A former bookkeeper and office manager of a Providence law firm, accused of embezzling more than $740,000, has agreed to plead guilty to fraud and identity theft charges, federal court papers show.
Sarah Gaulin, 39, of Warwick, a former employee of the law firm of Hamel, Waxler, Allen and Collins (HWAC), schemed the law firm for years, federal prosecutors say, by writing firm checks to herself, or to pay her own creditors, or to the firm’s credit card companies to cover personal purchases.
From at least January 2012 to May 2019, prosecutors alleged Gaulin defrauded the firm of some $740,953. They also accused her of fraudulently collecting nearly $20,000 in temporary disability insurance payments by claiming she was unable to work due to injury or illness.
Prosecutors say Gaulin also submitted fraudulent bank statements to a Rhode Island bank as part of a mortgage application she filed with the bank to show she carried a positive balance when in fact her actual account was routinely overdrawn.
According to a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court, Gaulin in coming weeks will plead guilty to two counts of bank fraud and one count each of aggravated identity theft and wire fraud.
The aggravated identity theft charge alone carries a mandatory federal prison term of two years, to run consecutive to any other prison time a judge may impose.
The case was investigated by Rhode Island State Police and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General.
