Former Office Manager Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud and Tax Evasion

BOSTON – A former office manager of a medical practice in Northampton pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Springfield to wire fraud and tax evasion.

Roxanne Tubolino, 56, of Belchertown, Mass., pleaded guilty to wire fraud and six counts of tax evasion.  In November 2014, Tubolino was charged in an Information.  U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for April 16, 2015.

From 2008 through September 11, 2013, Tubolino was employed as an office manager for Northampton Internal Medical Associates (NIMA), a medical practice with offices in Northampton, Mass.  During this period, Tubolino embezzled approximately $1,562,206 by writing numerous checks from NIMA’s corporate account to pay her personal credit card bills for accounts that she held at American Express, Bank of America, Chase, and Barclays.  Tubolino concealed this theft by falsely and fraudulently entering these checks into NIMA’s Quickbooks records as business expenses, such as “Clint Pharmaceuticals,” “Oncology Supplies,” and “Abbot Laboratories.”  Tubolino also filed tax returns for 2008 through 2013 in which she did not report any of the income that she received from her embezzlement at NIMA.

The charge of wire fraud provides a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.  The charge of tax evasion provides a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fine of $250,000.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement today.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of Ortiz's Springfield Branch Office.