Four months after their conviction, an Albany couple were sentenced to prison after they charged more than $450,000 to former co-workers’ credit cards.
Tamara Andreatta, 45, and Stacy Rix, 47, were sentenced to prison after the two were found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and seven counts of wire fraud. Andreatta was also found guilty of two counts of aggravated identity theft.
The two, who had been committing the crimes since November 2006, were found guilty in September.
Andreatta and Rix, who lived together, worked for Industrial Manufacturing, an Albany business that manufactures machine parts and equipment, according to U.S. Attorney for Middle District of Georgia G.F. Peterman.
As the bookkeeper, Andreatta used Rix’s company credit card and two former employees’ company credit cards to buy groceries and other household items, make car and other bill payments and pay for vacations, including a Caribbean cruise, Peterman said. Rix was a mechanic for the company.
“Theft from an employer, who trusted you enough to both give you a job and to put you in a position where you had access to company accounts, believing you to be honest, is as ungrateful an act as it is illegal,” Peterman said. “These defendants fully deserve the sentences they received in this case.”
Authorities did not say how they discovered the crimes.
Andreatta was sentenced to five years in prison and Rix will serve two years. Afterward, both will be on supervised release for three years. They also must pay more than $460,000 in restitution.
About the Author
