Office manager of Billings business sentenced for embezzlement

BILLINGS—Billings resident Jennifer Anne Thaw, who admitted embezzling approximately $390,680 from her employer where she worked as the office manager, was sentenced in federal court today to one year and one day in prison, three years supervised release and ordered to pay restitution, U.S. Attorney Kurt G. Alme said.

Presiding U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters also ordered six months of house arrest after prison and set restitution at $392,930.71.

Thaw, 45, pleaded guilty in March to four counts of wire fraud.

Thaw, who worked as a controller and office manager for J & S Recovery, Inc., embezzled the money during a five-year period, from 2012 to August 2017. Through her job, Thaw had access to the company’s financial and banking information, including online access to the firm’s bank account.

As part of her scheme to defraud the company, Thaw used the online access to transfer money from the company’s bank account into her own personal checking account at a different bank. To conceal the missing money, Thaw did not record the transfers in the company’s financial accounting software program.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin Rubich prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI.

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