Great Falls woman sentenced to prison for embezzling from employer

MISSOULA — A woman who admitted embezzling money from her employer, a tire and service center in Vaughn, was sentenced on Thursday to 10 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $95,001 restitution, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said today.

The defendant, Jennifer Sue Whiteford, 48, pleaded guilty in March to wire fraud.

U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided.

The government alleged in court documents that Whiteford worked as a bookkeeper for Darryl’s Tire and Service Center, located near Vaughn. From about 2017 and continuing through June 2022, Whiteford stole money from the business to pay for personal expenses without DTSC’s authorization. Whiteford wrote checks to herself from the business accounts and then changed the names of the payees in the accounting software to make it look like the embezzled funds were going to pay legitimate business expenses. In addition, Whiteford skimmed cash deposits from the company by taking cash that was supposed to be deposited into DTSC’s bank account and instead deposited the cash into her personal account. In total, Whiteford embezzled between $88,000 and $139,000 from the company.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. The FBI conducted the investigation.

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