Lebanon Woman Sentenced to 27 Months for $848,000 Wire Fraud

EUGENE, OR—Today, Chief U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken sentenced Rhonda Milligan, 42, of Lebanon, Oregon, to 27 months in federal prison for embezzling from her former employer, Entek Manufacturing Inc., a company in Lebanon, Oregon. Milligan pled guilty to a single count of wire fraud on May 18, 2012. She was also sentenced to three years’ supervised release and must pay restitution in the amount of $848,156.

“This defendant abused her position of trust in her company by stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars to line her own pockets,” commented U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall. “This sort of egregious fraud within the corporate setting will not be tolerated.”

According to the charges, court documents and other information presented in court, Milligan worked as an assistant to Entek’s president and on Entek’s management team for many years. As part of her responsibilities, Milligan had access to various financial accounts and paid personal bills for Entek’s president and owner. Milligan used her access to these accounts to embezzle money. She made more than $540,000 in unauthorized payments through an online electronic payment system to pay her personal credit card expenses and diverted another $293,000 by forging the name of Entek’s president on checks. Additionally, she skimmed from the company’s petty cash, and, in some cases, Milligan just cut checks for cash directly to herself. At sentencing, the court found that Milligan embezzled more than $848,000 between 2005 and 2011.

This case was investigated by the FBI and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford.