Norman Woman Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement and Failure to File Federal Income Tax Return

OKLAHOMA CITY—PAMELA J. WHITSON, 59, of Norman, Oklahoma, pled guilty in federal court today to forging a check and failing to file a federal income tax return in connection with her embezzlement of more than $960,000 from an Oklahoma City oil and gas company, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

At today’s plea hearing, Whitson admitted she worked for several years as the office manager at an oil and gas exploration in Oklahoma City. From 2002 through 2008, she forged the signatures of authorized signers on checks drawn on the oil and gas company’s accounts. Whitson admitted she wrote many of the forged checks payable to herself or to cash and used the embezzled funds mostly for gambling. At the plea hearing, Whitson also admitted she did not claim any of the embezzled funds as income on tax returns. She pled guilty to not filing an income tax return for the 2007 calendar year.

At sentencing, Whitson faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on the forged security charge, and up to one year in federal prison and a fine up to $25,000 on the federal tax charge. In connection with her guilty plea, Whitson signed a plea agreement and agreed to pay $965,333.47 in restitution. A sentencing hearing will be set by the court in approximately 90 days.

These charges are the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris M. Stephens.