Clinton Woman Sentenced to Prison for Bank Fraud and Tax Evasion

JACKSON, MS—Barbara Cummings, 60, of Clinton, Mississippi, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Bramlette to 23 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for bank fraud and tax evasion, announced U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis, FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel McMullen, and Special Agent in Charge Gabriel Grchan with IRS-Criminal Investigation’s New Orleans Field Office. A restitution and forfeiture hearing in this case will be held on March 25, 2014, at 11:00 a.m.

From March 2007 through March 2009, Cummings was employed as the office manager at Mid-South Machinery in Jackson. During her employment, she systematically forged the signatures of the owners of Mid-South Machinery on numerous checks drawn on Mid-South Machinery’s accounts at First Commercial Bank, making such forged checks payable to herself and her husband and cashing and depositing such funds into her personal bank account. Cummings also altered the dollar amounts written on transaction tickets from Mid-South’s Regions Bank account that were made payable to “Petty Cash” or she would fraudulently create a transaction ticket, making it payable to “Barbara Cummings,” and keep some or all of the money. When interviewed by agents of the FBI and IRS, Cummings admitted to embezzling the funds from Mid-South by defrauding the banks. During 2008, she prepared her own income tax return, where she intentionally failed to report over $120,000 in income she had received that year through her fraudulent scheme in order to pay less tax on her income.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst.