SHELBYVILLE — A Shelbyville woman has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for embezzling more than $600,000 in company funds over a decade.
According to court documents, from 2012 to December 2021, Tammy Scudder, 52, participated in a scheme to defraud her employer of more than $600,000.
Scudder served as the Controller for a company located in Shelbyville. As Controller, she was the company’s top accountant and maintained its accounting ledgers, managed payroll and had access to online bank accounts.
Scudder also had access to the company’s accounting software, which she used to generate checks in the company’s name.
Scudder knew the company’s Group Health Plan bank account was difficult to double-check because it was funded based upon the total amount of the weekly claims on the list it received from another company, rather than by each claim separately.
According to court documents, Scudder access the company’s accounting software to generate and print a company check to herself and signed another employee’s signature stamp.
After she printed the check, she concealed the theft by altering and falsifying the company’s accounting records.
Scudder used the stolen money to take vacations, pay off personal debts, fund her children’s education and make improvements in her home.
Between February 2, 2012 and December 17, 2021, Scudder generated 154 fraudulent checks totaling $693,708.
Scudder pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud and was sentenced to two years in federal prison.
Once released from prison, she will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for two years. She will need to pay the full amount back to the company.
