Former Candy Crown worker pleads guilty to $300K payroll fraud, embezzlement

Katrina McCutchen, 44, pleaded guilty to 54 counts of theft Monday in Bibb County Superior Court. (Credit: Macon Telegraph)

Katrina McCutchen, 44, pleaded guilty to 54 counts of theft Monday in Bibb County Superior Court. (Credit: Macon Telegraph)

A former Candy Crown employee was sentenced to spend seven years of a 45-year sentence in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $300,000 over a three-year period.

Katrina Lainette McCutchen, 44, also must pay $327,000 in restitution, the Macon Telegraph reported.

She was accused of 54 counts of theft and sentenced Monday in Bibb County Superior Court.

McCutchen started working for the Macon-based family business that makes and distributes candy sold nationwide in 2010 and she was in charge of payroll, the newspaper reported.

The prosecutor estimated $800,000 in losses, but a company audit could only prove $298,187 was illegally taken over weekly pay periods in 2012. That audit alone cost the company $30,000.

Charges are still pending against 40-year-old Robert Lorenzo Butler, McCutchen's husband, who also is charged in the case.

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