Wheeling woman sentenced for embezzling nearly $350,000

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA – Cindy Shearer, of Wheeling, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 21 months of incarceration for embezzling nearly $350,000 from her previous employers, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell announced.

Shearer, 58, pled guilty to one count of “Wire Fraud” and one count of “Filing False Income Tax Return” in September 2020. From April 2013 until the end of 2019, Shearer was employed as the office manager by Cane Business Forms & Systems and later reorganized as Precision Printed Products, a printing company in Triadelphia, West Virginia. 

Shearer admitted to writing checks totaling $276,892.88 from Cane Business Forms & Systems and a total of $67,672.41 from Precision Printed Products to herself, but listing the check as paid to a legitimate vendor. She would then cash or deposit the checks into her own bank account. Shearer also admitted to not claiming the embezzled money on her personal taxes, defrauding the IRS of approximately $54,509.

Shearer was ordered to pay restitution to both business owners and restitution to the IRS that totals $399,074.29.
 
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jarod J. Douglas prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service investigated.

U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey presided.