Los Lunas Woman Faces Federal Bank Fraud and Embezzlement Charges
| U.S. Attorney’s Office February 09, 2012 |
ALBUQUERQUE—Yesterday a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Jolene Calderon, 34, of Los Lunas, N.M., with 82 counts of bank fraud and five counts of theft or embezzlement of funds from a health care benefit program.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said that Calderon was employed as an analyst in Presbyterian Health Plan’s financial department and served as the treasurer of the Presbyterian Employees Goodwill Group (PEGG) at the time of the offenses alleged in the indictment.
According to the indictment, between October 2008 and May 2010, Calderon used her position as PEGG treasurer to commit bank fraud by diverting funds from the PEGG bank account to her own bank accounts or bank accounts she controlled.
Calderon allegedly wrote checks on the PEGG account to herself; forged the signatures of authorized account signers, and made false entries into the PEGG check registry to make it appear as if the checks had been written for legitimate PEGG purposes.
The indictment alleges that Calderon fraudulently obtained an aggregate of $86,000.85 through 82 separate transactions during a 20-month period.
The indictment further alleges that, between February 2010 and May 2010, Calderon embezzled funds belonging to Presbyterian Healthcare Services, a health care benefit program, on five separate occasions and deposited the funds into the PEGG bank account.
Calderon allegedly embezzled approximately $31,867.23 in those five transactions.
A conviction on each of the 82 bank fraud charges carries a maximum penalty of 30 years of imprisonment and a $1,000,000 fine, and a conviction on each of the five embezzlement charges carries a maximum penalty of ten years of imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
The court has not yet scheduled an arraignment date for Calderon.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney C. Paige Messec. Charges in indictments are only accusations, and criminal defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.