City Woman Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Her Employer and to Tax Fraud

Casey Lynn Peyton, 41, from Oklahoma City, pled guilty today before United States District Court Judge David Russell to defrauding her employer in a wire fraud scheme and to committing tax fraud, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

Peyton was the bookkeeper for Metropolitan Air Conditioning Service Company (Metropolitan) in Oklahoma City. As part of her job, she prepared job cost reports, handled accounts payable and receivable, paid payroll and bills, and managed insurance and benefits for the company. According to the information filed in the case, from January 22, 2009 through November 30, 2012, Peyton defrauded her employer by committing wire fraud. Specifically, on November 30, 2009, she wire transferred $1,835 from Metropolitan’s bank account to American Express to cover her personal credit card expenses. In addition, Peyton was charged with filing a fraudulent tax return for 2011 by intentionally failing to report her entire income for the tax year.

Peyton pled guilty to the information today and admitting that she defrauded her employer and that she filed a fraudulent tax return. In the plea agreement, Peyton admitted that the loss to Metropolitan from 2009 through 2012 was between $200,000 and $400,000 and that the tax loss to the Internal Revenue Service for 2009 through 2011 was between $30,000 and $70,000.

At sentencing, Peyton faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the wire fraud scheme and up to three years and a $100,000 fine on the tax charge. As part of a plea agreement, Peyton agreed to pay full restitution to Metropolitan and to the IRS. A sentencing hearing will be set by the court in approximately 90 days.

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kerry A. Kelly.