An Alabama bookkeeper was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for stealing more than $900,000 from her former employer through fraud and identity theft.
U.S. District Judge C. Lynwood Smith Jr. ordered Peggy McGlaughn, 68, to serve 57 months in prison. McGlaughn also must serve five years’ supervised release after completing her prison sentence and pay $933,079 in restitution to Bob Roberts & Company, the Etowah County construction company where she worked as bookkeeper and office manager for 24 years. She will be credited $60,750 toward that restitution for two vehicles seized through asset forfeiture proceedings by the FBI.
McGlaughn is scheduled to report to prison in June. She pleaded guilty to the fraud and aggravated identity theft charges in 2011. According to court records, from October 2003 until February 2010, McGlaughn obtained the signatures of Bob Roberts & Company principals on company checks and told the principals those checks would be used to pay for company expenses.
McGlaughn would make the checks out to another company employee, but unbeknownst to that employee, she forged his endorsement on the checks and then presented them to a local bank for payment. Over the years, according to prosecutors, McGlaughn forged endorsements and cashed more than 100 of the company’s checks, keeping the money for herself.
