Springfield Woman Sentenced to Nearly Four Years in Prison for Embezzling More Than $400,000 from Former Employer

Springfield, Ill. – In court this morning, U.S. District Judge Sue E. Myerscough sentenced a Springfield, Ill., woman, Alice M. Foss, 53, to serve 46 months in federal prison for embezzling more than $400,000 from her former employer, a Springfield consulting and lobbying firm. During a jury trial in January 2015, Foss pled guilty to the charges against her:  mail fraud (five counts), wire fraud (seven counts), and access device fraud (one count.)

Foss was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $464,925. Foss was ordered to report to begin serving her prison term on a date to be determined by the federal Bureau of Prisons.

At her plea hearing, on Jan. 20, 2015, Foss admitted that she embezzled money from Don Moss and Associates from May 1997 to October 2009.  At the time of the fraud, Foss was employed as the firm’s chief financial officer and in that capacity, had check-signing authority and control over the firm’s bank account and was responsible for paying the firm’s business expenses.

As part of the fraud scheme, Foss admitted that she repeatedly wrote fraudulent bonus checks to herself as well as checks she falsely represented were reimbursements for business expenses, when, in fact, the false expenses were simply one of the means she used to conceal her embezzlement. Foss admitted that she repeatedly used DMA’s bank account and credit card account to pay personal expenses, including personal car payments, donations to a private school, and payments to personal credit cards. Foss also used the DMA credit card to pay for personal expenses including payments for clothing, groceries, gas, car washes and rentals, hotel rooms, hair salon and spa expenses, and veterinary bills.

The charges were investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy A. Bass.