Bookkeeper Uses Gas Money And Fuels Her Demise

Sandra Roberto was living the American Dream, until she committed tax fraud that is.

Sandra started her career at Mesilla Valley Transportation as a fuel clerk and worked her up to the accounting department. She was sentenced for four years and three months for wire fraud and filing false tax returns. Roberto had access to third party payment processors her employer used from 2011 to 2018, and was responsible for loading cash advances onto debit cards given to drivers for gas purchases. Roberto regularly added more cash than was required, and would then call the payment processing company and ask for codes to remove extra funds from the cards. Once the extra funds were back in the company’s bank account, Roberto wrote checks to herself for the newly deposited amounts.

Roberto wrote 1,735 checks to herself for a total of $1,130,215 over a period of eight years . She reported partial amounts of the embezzled funds on her tax returns, for example in 2017 when she embezzled $260,705 and reported just $31,932. She used the funds to pay her mortgage, purchase expensive cars, and for lavish vacations.

In addition to restitution to her employer, and her prison sentence, she was ordered to pay the IRS $250,473.

Contact McCauley Law today for a FREE consultation. We can work with you and the IRS to ensure you get the best possible deal and that you are out of your Tax Jam. We know we can help you. When the IRS comes knocking, let us answer!