Woman guilty in fraud case
billingsgazette.com | 5/11/08 | Associated Press
HELENA - A former state accountant who stole more than $739,000 by issuing checks to her husband's maintenance business for work that was never performed pleaded guilty Friday to several charges stemming from the theft.
Susan Campbell, 58, appeared before District Judge Charles Lovell and pleaded guilty to scheming to defraud the state of Montana, aggravated identity theft and income tax evasion. She was allowed to remain free until her sentencing Sept. 16.
"The government doesn't want detention since this isn't a crime of violence, she's not a flight risk and she's not a danger to others," E. Vincent Carroll, an assistant U.S. attorney, said.
Campbell was an accounting supervisor for the Facilities Management Bureau whose duties included securing vendors and authorizing payments.
One of those vendors was Campbell's husband, Jack Campbell, who owned Jack's Technical Assistance and had a contract with the state from 1998 to 2006 to provide mechanical maintenance service. Susan Campbell was accused of issuing checks to JTA even after the contract ended.
An audit found 20 payments totaling $739,312 to JTA without any supporting invoices or documentation. The amounts ranged from $7,951 to $66,521, spanning from December 2002 to June 2007.
Campbell's son, Patrick Brownback, 33, was arrested in March, accused of accepting the funds through forged checks. He faces a felony charge of accountability to commit forgery.
Campbell was charged with income tax evasion because she declared an income of $186,100 in 2005 when it really was $429,850.
The aggravated-identity-theft charge was brought because she used others' identities to skirt a fraud prevention system that requires two people to approve checks. Prosecutors say she asked employees under her supervision to give her their passwords, saying that when someone was out sick or on vacation, the payment of invoices could continue.
Campbell, who was fired in June, had worked for the state since 1975 and was earning about $45,000 a year.