Home Atlanta Press Releases 2009 Camden County Woman Convicted on 50 Counts of Bank Fraud
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Camden County Woman Convicted on 50 Counts of Bank Fraud

U.S. Attorney’s Office August 13, 2009
  • Southern District of Georgia (912) 652-4422

SAVANNAH, GA—Edmund A. Booth, Jr., United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, announced today that a federal jury sitting in the U.S. District Court in Brunswick convicted a Camden County woman, Charlene Rivera, on August 12, 2009 on 50 counts of bank fraud. Rivera worked as an assistant to Watson Realty real estate agent Steven Woolsey, who worked out of the company’s St. Mary’s office. Evidence admitted over three days of the trial showed that Rivera wrote over $90,000 worth of checks, payable either to herself or to cash, on Mr. Woolsey’s accounts and then concealed the theft by falsifying bookkeeping and other financial records.

The testimony of key government witness Steven Woolsey showed that a large part of Rivera’s job was to handle his business expenses. Mr. Woolsey’s testimony further showed that while Rivera had the specific check-writing authority to pay his bills, she did not have the authority to write checks to herself or to cash for her own personal expenses which is what the evidence showed that she did over the course of 2005 and 2006. The scheme went unnoticed for nearly two years, because Rivera covered the checks up by falsifying Mr. Woolsey’s financial records and because he trusted her. The scheme finally came to Mr. Woolsey’s attention, when he received bank notification that his account had a surprisingly low balance.

The evidence further established that Rivera lived a high-spending lifestyle as she often spent more than $4,000 a month at department stores alone. Rivera also stole money from Mr. Woolsey to pay for her large house and to meet its high expenses. Evidence showed that Rivera needed the money to keep funds in her Navy Federal Credit Union account to avoid it being thousands of dollars overdrawn.

Booth praised the investigative and trial work of FBI agent William Kirkconnell, which was instrumental in the successful prosecution of the case.

Booth stated that Rivera will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood after the probation office completes a pre sentence investigation and report. Rivera remains on bond pending her sentencing. The government was represented at trial by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeffrey J. Buerstatte and Natalie Lee.

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