Brunswick Women Pleads Guilty to Federal Program and Tax Fraud

Contact: Donald E. Clark
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 780-3257

Portland, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Stacey
A. Backman, 41, of Brunswick, Maine, pled guilty in U.S. District Court to federal program and
tax fraud charges.

According to court records, the defendant was a fund accountant at Coastal Enterprises,
Inc. (CEI). CEI is a private, nonprofit, charitable Community Development Corporation and
Community Development Financial Institution based in Wiscasset, Maine that received more
than $10,000 in federal funds each year. From 2010 to January 2014, the defendant embezzled
over $300,000 from CEI and failed to report the embezzled income on her federal income tax
returns. CEI learned of the embezzlement in January 2014 and terminated the defendant’s
employment.

The defendant faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the federal program
fraud charge and up to 3 years in prison and a $100,000 fine on the federal tax fraud charge. She
will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation
Office.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office
of Inspector General (OIG); the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations Division; the
U.S. Department of Agriculture, OIG; and the Wiscasset Police Department.