Pueblo Woman Indicted for Wire and Tax Fraud

            DENVER – Kimberly Pitts, age 46, of Pueblo, Colorado was arrested last week on charges of wire fraud and filing a false tax return, Acting United States Attorney Bob Troyer, IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Steven Osborne, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Calvin A. Shivers announced.  Pitts was indicted by a federal grand jury on November 30, 2016, which remained sealed until her arrest.  Pitts appeared before a U.S. Magistrate Judge this afternoon where she was advised of her rights and the charges pending against her.

            According to the indictment, Pitts was hired as the office manager for Associates of Gastroenterology, Professional Corporation (AG) in February 2011.  Her duties included being entrusted with AG’s bank accounts, credit cards, and maintaining AG’s accounting ledgers.  Pitts was authorized to use AG’s credit cards and funds for business purposes.

            Beginning in February 2011 and continuing through May 2015, Pitts devised a scheme in which she used AG funds for her own personal use.  This included using AG credit cards to make personal purchases, writing checks from AG’s bank accounts for personal use and wiring funds from AG bank accounts to various financial institutions where Pitts held personal bank accounts. 

Pitts disguised many of the fraudulent transactions in AG’s accounting ledgers.  On several occasions, Pitts wrote fraudulent business expenses into the accounting ledgers to conceal her use of AG funds.  In January 2015, Pitts listed in the accounting ledgers that AG paid $10,000 to Colorado Springs Utilities when in fact she had wired the $10,000 to her TD Ameritrade account.  In total, Pitts converted approximately $792,474 of AG’s money for her own personal use. 

            Additionally, in April 2015, Pitts filed a U.S. Individual Income Tax Return for the 2014 tax year with a written declaration that the return was made under the penalties of perjury, that her total income for 2014 was $88,473.  When filed, Pitts knew her total income was greater than the amount she listed on the tax return.

            Pitts is charged with eight counts of wire fraud and one count of false tax statement.  Wire fraud carries a penalty of not more than 20 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000 per count.  False tax statement carries a penalty of not more than 3 years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.

            This case is being investigated by Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Sibert.

            The charges contained in the indictment are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.