Billie Preston Imprisoned For Embezzling From Williston Employer

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Billie Preston, 42, a former resident of Monkton who now lives in South Burlington, was sentenced today in United States District Court in Burlington to 21 months of imprisonment following her guilty plea to a charge of wire fraud.  Chief U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss ordered that Preston serve three years of supervised release following completion of her prison term and pay restitution of slightly more than $86,000.  The court directed Preston to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on April 8 to begin serving her sentence.

According to court records, between approximately November 2011 and late April 2014, Preston was employed as a bookkeeper by Endyne, Inc., an environmental testing laboratory located in Williston.  Preston handled the company's payroll and accounts receivables and payables. 

Beginning in about January 2012 and continuing through the end of April 2014, Preston embezzled about $84,000 from Endyne, primarily by falsifying payroll records to cause the firm to issue her paychecks and make electronic funds transfers in excess of her authorized salary.  Preston also made electronic transfers of company funds to pay her personal bills.

In sentencing Preston to prison, Judge Reiss noted that in 2010, Preston had pled guilty in state court to embezzling from another former employer and was serving probation as part of a deferred sentence when she stole from Endyne. 

This case was investigated by the Williston Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Preston is represented by Robert Kaplan.  The prosecutor is Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples.