Former Employee Sentenced to Two Years for $1.6 Million Theft

BATON ROUGE, LA—FAYE GERMANY LAURENT, age 71, a resident of Prairieville, Louisiana, was sentenced today in federal court by U.S. District Judge James J. Brady in the Middle District Louisiana to two years (24 months) in prison for making, uttering, and possessing forged securities, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten. In addition, the defendant was ordered to forfeit any proceeds derived from the theft, pay $1,073,212.73 in restitution as well as serve three years’ supervised release during which time she will be under federal supervision and risk additional imprisonment should she violate any terms of the release.

According to court records in the case, LAURENT pled guilty admitting that she formerly was employed by Deville Construction Company of Baton Rouge, Louisiana as the company's bookkeeper and that she obtained money and property of her employer totaling in excess of $1.5 million over a six-year period. She acknowledged that she changed the payee and/or increased the dollar amount of certain checks drawn on the account of Deville Construction and then deposited those checks into accounts in the name of herself and a family member. She also admitted that without the knowledge of the owners of Deville Construction, she used company checks to pay suppliers of materials and labor for the personal residence she was having constructed in Prairieville.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Louisiana was recused from the investigation and prosecution of this case. The investigation was conducted by special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys James Mann, Eileen Gleason, and Andre Lagarde.