Home Boston Press Releases 2009 Former Bookkeeper Admits Stealing $375,000 from Country Club
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Former Bookkeeper Admits Stealing $375,000 from Country Club

U.S. Attorney’s Office January 08, 2009
  • District of Rhode Island (401) 709-5000

Bernadine Urbanowicz, a former bookkeeper at Ledgemont Country Club in Seekonk, pleaded guilty today to bank fraud, admitting that she stole about $375,000 from the club over the course of five years by forging signatures on checks made out to petty cash.

United States Attorney Robert Clark Corrente announced the guilty plea, which Urbanowicz entered today before Chief U.S. District Court Judge Mary M. Lisi in U.S. District Court, Providence.

At the plea hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew J. Reich said the government could prove that, between 1999 and 2004, Urbanowicz prepared checks payable to petty cash against the Ledgemont account, signed her name to each check as one of the signatories, and forged the second required signature.  She cashed the forged checks at various branches of Citizens Bank.  Urbanowicz, who was the club’s bookkeeper and office manager from 1986 until November 2004, also made out two club checks to herself shortly before she ended her employment at the club, and cashed those checks as well.

Urbanowicz concealed her scheme by storing the cancelled forged checks at a location separate from other cancelled checks and by creating false entries in the club’s books.  From October 1999 to December 2004, she stole a total of $375,000 by cashing 366 checks.

Urbanowicz, 61, pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud.  The maximum penalty is 30 years in federal prison and a $1,000,000 fine.  Urbanowicz is free on bond pending sentencing, which Judge Lisi scheduled for April 2.

Urbanowicz’s address is not reflected in court records.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation.

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