Former Administrative Assistant For SW Virginia EMS Council Sentenced
Katherine White To Serve 53 Months
ABINGDON, VIRGINIA – The former administrative assistant for the Southwest Virginia EMS Council was sentenced this morning in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon for her role in embezzling more than $225,00 from her employer.
Kathy Dishman White, 40, of Abingdon, Va., previously pled guilty to a two-count Information charging her with one count of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. This morning in U.S. District Court, White was sentenced to 53 months incarceration. In addition to her term of imprisonment, the court ordered White to forfeit her lake house and land located on South Holston Lake and to pay restitution in the amount of $229,079.65.
“Ms. White abused her employer’s trust when she embezzled funds for her personal use,” United States Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy said today. “This office will vigorously prosecute all individuals who steal – whatever form that theft takes. We will also pursue restitution to the victims in this and other cases, to ensure that crime does not pay for individuals like Ms. White.”
According to evidence presented at the guilty plea hearing by Assistant United States Attorney, Zachary T. Lee, White had been employed as an Administrative Assistant for the Southwest Virginia EMS Council beginning in October 2005.
In 2006, White began utilizing the Southwest Virginia EMS Council's credit card without authorization and withdrawing cash on a daily basis. Additionally, White forged the names of Southwest Virginia EMS Council employees on numerous checks in order to obtain funds for herself and to hide her conduct. White used the money she obtained from her conduct to make payments on a house located on South Holston Lake, make payments on a Toyota Tundra pickup truck, Sea-Doo Jetski, and to pay for designer clothes and accessories. White’s conduct ended in June 2010 when an audit discovered the missing funds and the Virginia State Police and the United States Secret Service began an investigation.
White confessed to agents with the United States Secret Service and the Virginia State Police, and has provided a written statement to these agents and her employer. The total loss to the Southwest Virginia EMS council was $229,079.65. A representative from the Southwest Virginia EMS Council also testified that White had fabricated and forged audits of Southwest Virginia EMS Council in order to hide her illegal activity.
The investigation of this case was conducted by the Virginia State Police and the United States Secret Service. Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee of the United States Attorney’s Office in Abingdon is prosecuting the case.
