Alabama Woman Pleads Guilty to Stealing Over $700,000 From Her Employer and Filing False Tax Returns

2018-08-31

An Alabama woman pleaded guilty to six counts of wire fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns, on August 30, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Louis V. Franklin Sr. for the Middle District of Alabama.

According to court documents, from February 2007, through May 2014, Alita Baker Edeker, a resident of Valley, Alabama, embezzled $700,000 of her employer’s funds for her own personal benefit, by directing her company’s clients’ payments to debit and credit cards she controlled. Edeker made false statements and representations in the company’s books and records in order to conceal her embezzlement. After embezzling the funds, Edeker willfully filed false tax returns for tax years 2011, 2012, and 2013, that did not report the money.

Edeker faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count and three years in prison for each count of filing a false tax return. Edeker also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice