A former operations manager for an Irving, Texas-based IT staffing service company was sentenced to more than six years in prison this week for embezzling more than $800,000 from her employer, the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas reported.
The former operations manager, She-Daria Latisha Owens-Sharp, had previously pleaded guilty in April 2022, according to the office. Owens-Sharp was also ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution.
According to court documents cited by the US Attorney’s Office, Owens-Sharp requested paper paychecks for employees in addition to those employees’ direct deposit checks. She then altered the paper checks to replace employee names with her own and deposited the altered checks into her own bank account.
She also falsely told the company’s payroll vendor that she had received a nearly 50% salary increase, causing the company to increase her direct deposit without authorization, according to the office.
Owens-Sharp admitted to depositing 376 manipulated checks totaling more than $818,000, according to the office. The company paid an additional $224,000 in payroll taxes on the fraudulently obtained checks, resulting in a loss of more than $1 million.