Stole to gamble
US District Judge Thomas P. Barber has sentenced a Florida woman to ten years in prison after she stole over $4m from her employer for gambling and personal expenses.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida (USAO-MDFL) on Monday reported that Judge Barber sentenced Madelyn Hernandez, 49, for wire fraud and money laundering.
faked her own death when her employers discovered her fraud
The USAO-MDFL took to X with news of the sentence for the Lee County woman who faked her own death when her employers discovered her fraud:
The DOJ news release stated Hernandez emailed her textiles and apparel firm posing as a family member who claimed Hernandez had died from surgery complications.
Ruse unravels
The USAO-MDFL release cited prosecutors as stating Hernandez worked for the company for 20 years where she placed orders and ran the company’s shipping, invoicing, and inventory.
Over a six-year period under federal scrutiny, Hernandez submitted fraudulent invoices directing the payments to her bank accounts.
The false invoice paper trail eventually linked to a fictitious company and a defunct firm. The scheme netted Hernandez $4,199,498.42 in total from her employer between 2018 and 2024.
In June 2024, however, Hernandez’s employers uncovered her fraud. Instead of coming clean, the now-convicted felon sent her firm an email fraudulently claiming she was a member of Hernandez’s family and that her under-investigation relative had died following illness and complications from surgery.
found the fraudster very much alive
Unfortunately for Hernandez, her employers reported her to the FBI and Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation. The feds executed a search warrant for Hernandez’s home in October and found the fraudster very much alive.
Ruse blown, Hernandez admitted to the feds she’d concocted fake invoices, fictitious companies with which to steal the firm’s money, and her own death.
Closing statements
The DOJ cited court documents in which Hernandez stated she didn’t think what she stole “was as high as $4 million.”
Prosecutors said that Hernandez would occasionally return some stolen funds in the hope that her employers would remain ignorant of her scheme.
Judge Barber ordered Hernandez, who initially pleaded guilty on January 28, to forfeit the $4m as part of her sentence.
