MARIETTA — A Marietta woman who used her position at a law firm to embezzle funds for more than a decade was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas W. Thrash to three years and one month in prison.
Francine Fonger, 50, of Marietta, pleaded guilty to a single count of mail fraud on Aug. 9, 2012. She was also ordered to pay $832,890.35 in restitution to the estate of the victim, who is deceased.
According to U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, Fonger worked as a legal assistant at a law firm in Atlanta for many years.
The victim, a retired partner at the firm, who Fonger was assigned to support, asked her to help him with various personal matters, including paying his bills and handling his bookkeeping, in addition to her secretarial duties.
After performing these functions for a period of time, Fonger began using the partner's personal funds to make unauthorized payments to herself and to her creditors. These unauthorized payments took place from at least 1999 and continued until December 2010. At sentencing, the court found the amount of the loss caused by Fonger’s fraudulent scheme to be $832,890.35.
Post a Comment
Follow us on Twitter!