Long pleads guilty to wire fraud, failure to pay taxes

By: 
Steve Chapman

Carrie Long

Ash Grove woman’s fraudulent conduct created total loss of $1.3 million
 
An Ash Grove woman has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and failure to pay employment taxes in a case where she originally faced 29 felony charges relating to her previous employment as an accountant. Carrie Leigh Long, 52, pleaded guilty to the charges on Monday, April 25.

Long stole funds using pre-signed blank checks:

Long, who was previously an accountant at Executive Coach Builders/Executive Bus Builders (The Companies) in Springfield, used her position to write checks to herself. According to the plea agreement in the case, while Long did not have signing authority on the company’s accounts, another accountant who did have signing authority pre-signed a number of blank checks; these checks were then given to Long to fill out to pay outstanding invoices while the accountant was away on business. Instead, Long used these checks to make unauthorized payments to herself. She was also accused of forging the signatures of authorized signers on checks which she allegedly wrote to herself and then electronically present the checks to her bank to be deposited into her personal checking account. To hide her actions, she allegedly did not include the pre-signed and forged checks in her financial reports. According to the plea agreement, Long stole $27,175.00 in 2016, $57,500.00 in 2017, $94,500.00 in 2018, $103,000.00 in 2019 and $80,000.00, totaling $362,175.00.

Long also failed to pay employment, income taxes:

The plea agreement also stated that Long failed to pay $543,974.96 of the Companies’ trust fund taxes and $358,251.17 of the Companies’ payroll taxes, leaving the Companies owing the IRS $902,226.13. She also failed to pay income tax on the income she received by stealing from the Companies, leaving her owing $65,039.52 in unpaid income tax. The total loss created by Long’s conduct comes to $1,329,440.65.

Possible penalties:

As part of the plea agreement, when Long is sentenced, she faces a maximum sentence of up to 25 years in federal prison for both counts, fines of up to $500,000, up to six years of supervised release following her prison sentence and a $200 mandatory special assessment fee. She will also be required to forfeit all assets she owns as applicable under federal law, and pay $362,175.00 in restitution to the Companies and $967,265.65 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. In return, the federal government agreed to dismiss the remaining 27 felony charges against her and not seek additional charges.
As of presstime, Long’s sentencing hearing had not yet been scheduled.
 

Category:

Lawrence County Record

312 S. Hickory St.
Mt. Vernon, MO, 65712
www.lawrencecountyrecord.com

Facebook

Please Login for Premium Content