Former Employee of Allstate Electrical to Serve Eight Months in Prison for Embezzlement and Tax Fraud

OKLAHOMA CITY—Renea I. Windham, of Oklahoma City, was sentenced today to eight months in federal prison for making a forged security and filing a false tax return in connection with her embezzlement of more than $140,000 from a metro electrical contracting business, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

Windham is the former bookkeeper at Allstate Electrical Contractors Inc. in Oklahoma City. According to the information filed in the case, Windham made and possessed a forged check from Allstate payable to her for $4,380.08. At the plea hearing on September 11, 2013, Windham admitted that she prepared that check to herself without Allstate’s permission and caused the company’s accounting records to show the check was instead issued to a legitimate electrical company. Windham admitted that she embezzled more than $140,000 from Allstate from 2010 to 2013. The information also alleged that Windham submitted a false federal income tax return for tax year 2012 by failing to report substantial income. At the plea hearing, Windham admitted that she did not claim more than $60,000 of embezzled income from Allstate on her 2012 federal income tax return.

Today, United States District Judge Robin J. Cauthron sentenced Windham to eight months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. Windham was ordered to pay restitution to Allstate and its insurance company in the amount of $143,057.10. She was also ordered to pay $26,682.00 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for federal income tax due from her unreported embezzlement income.

These charges are the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, and the United States Secret Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris M. Stephens.