Jones Woman to Serve 30 Months in Prison for Embezzlement from Former Employer and Filing a False Tax Return

Judge Orders Woman Pay Restitution Totalling $1,982,777.79

OKLAHOMA CITY—LORA L. RENSHAW, 50, from Jones, Oklahoma, was sentenced today by United States District Judge David L. Russell to serve 30 months in federal prison for mail fraud and filing a false tax return, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

From 2005 through 2009, Renshaw worked as the office manager for Crown Electric, Inc., in Oklahoma City. In December of 2010, Renshaw pled guilty to a two-count information charging her with writing over 500 checks on Crown Electric’s company’s account to pay her own personal expenses, forging the signature of an authorized signer on the checks, altering copies of the checks to reflect that payments had been made to legitimate company vendors, and submitting the altered check register and bank statements to the company’s CPA through the mail. Renshaw also pled guilty to submitting a false tax return for 2009 by failing to disclose the income she received from her embezzlement.

In addition to the 30-month prison term, Judge Russell ordered that Renshaw pay restitution of $1,275,247.43 to Crown Electric, $250,000.00 to Central Mutual Insurance Company, and $457,530.36 to the Internal Revenue Service.

These charges were the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, and the United States Secret Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Cox.