July 29, 11

NEWS / Maryland Woman Sentenced for Stealing More Than $30,000 in Checks from D.C. Government Office

Cleaning Staff Member Took Checks While Working in Building

WASHINGTON—Yesenia E. Amaya, 20, who did cleaning work at the Economic Development and Regulation Center, a division of the D.C. Office of the Chief Financial Officer, was sentenced today to three months of incarceration in the theft of more than $30,000 in checks from the government agency, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

Amaya, of Hyattsville, Md., pled guilty in May 2011, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to interstate transportation of stolen property. She was sentenced by the Honorable Gladys Kessler. As part of her plea, Amaya agreed to pay full restitution and consented to an order forfeiting $31,211, the total amount of the stolen checks she deposited. Following completion of her sentence, she will be placed on three years of supervised release.

As part of the plea, Amaya admitted that she was employed by a building services company and worked evenings cleaning the Southwest Washington offices of the Economic Development and Regulation Center. Between July 28, 2010 and November 16, 2010, she took about 30 checks from an office. Each check had originally been made payable to the District.

According to the government’s evidence, after taking the checks, Amaya added her name as a payee and took the checks to Maryland, where she deposited them into her own bank account. When investigators contacted Amaya, she admitted to the offense.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the special agent who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office, as well as Special Agent John DiGravio of the D.C. Office of the Inspector General, and Sergeant Joseph Bonner of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). He also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including paralegals Margaret McCabe and Krishawn Graham, Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Sroka, of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan Hooks and Mary Chris Dobbie, who prosecuted the matter.

http://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2011/maryland-woman-sentenced-for-stealing-more-than-30-000-in-checks-from-d.c.-government-office