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Press Release

Dent County Woman Sentenced on Federal Fraud Charges

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Missouri

St. Louis, MO – Demea Loyd, Salem, MO, was sentenced to three months in prison, plus six months of home confinement, on wire fraud charges involving her embezzlement from Sears.  Additionally, she was ordered to pay restitution of $358,805.

According to court documents, Loyd owned two stores in Washington and Rolla, Missouri.  She entered into a contract with Sears Authorized Hometown Stores, LLC to exclusively distribute Sears merchandise from these two stores.  The contract called for Loyd to distribute Sears merchandise on a consignment basis.  In exchange, Loyd was paid a commission based on the amount of sales.  Loyd was to deposit all proceeds from the sale of the merchandise at each store into a “holding” account until they could be transferred to Sears.  From April 2013 to December 2014, Loyd embezzled $358,805 from Sears, by making unauthorized withdrawals from the holding account and falsifying the monthly statements to hide the missing funds.

Loyd pled guilty in May to one count of wire fraud and appeared today for sentencing before United States District Judge John Ross. 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Rolla and Washington, Missouri, Police Departments.  Assistant United States Attorney John Ware handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Updated December 23, 2016

Topic
StopFraud