Anchorage, Alaska – U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder announced
that an Alaska woman has been sentenced in federal court for devising multiple
schemes to defraud an Anchorage medical practice of at least $640,000.
Jill Diane Applebury, aka: “Jill Wetzsteon,” 54, d/b/a
Applebury Accounting Services, of Anchorage, was sentenced yesterday by Chief
U.S. District Judge Timothy M. Burgess to serve four years in prison, followed
by five years of supervised release. In
November 2018, Jill Applebury pleaded guilty to four counts of bank fraud, one
count of wire fraud, and one count of fraudulent transactions with an access
device. The total amount of restitution
to be paid to the victim will be determined within thirty days.
According to court documents, from the mid-1990’s until
March 2013, Jill Applebury was an independent contractor who performed
bookkeeping services for an Anchorage medical practice, which was owned and
operated by an Anchorage physician. From
at least 2001 until March 22, 2013, Jill Applebury defrauded the Anchorage
medical practice in several ways.
One such scheme stems from 2001 through 2009, when Jill
Applebury used the medical practice’s funds to pay her Federal Income Tax
Withholding without authority.
Specifically, Jill Applebury executed unauthorized and fraudulent
transactions from the medical practice’s business bank account to the IRS,
thereby having the medical practice pay her IRS individual income tax
account. IRS Form 945 account transcripts
for the medical practice showed that withheld taxes were paid to the IRS for
the 2001-2009 calendar years, and applied to Jill Applebury’s individual income
tax account. The total amount of
unauthorized federal tax withholdings on independent contractor compensation
paid by the medical practice for Jill Applebury’s benefit was $84,813.75.
Another scheme involved the medical practice’s
profit-sharing plan. Employees of the
medical practice were eligible to participate in its profit-sharing plan, which
was overseen by a third-party administrator.
Independent contractors did not qualify for the plan; however, Jill
Applebury falsely represented to the third-party administrator that she had
become a full-time employee of the medical practice in 2009, making her
eligible to participate in the profit-sharing plan beginning in 2010. In all, Jill Applebury fraudulently caused
the physician to unknowingly allocate $62,722.90 to her in unauthorized
profit-sharing plan contributions for the years 2010 and 2011. As a result of the unauthorized overpayment
caused by Jill Applebury to the profit-sharing plan, the Anchorage physician
suffered an additional loss of $25,574.18, and was subject to an excise tax
penalty in the amount of $1,931.80.
From July 2004 through December 2012, Jill Applebury devised
a scheme to defraud the medical practice by fraudulently transferring funds
from the medical practice’s business bank account to pay for charges on her and
her family’s personal credit cards, including charges for travel and dining. The medical practice checking account was
used to make payments totaling $18,229.97 on credit cards belonging to Jill
Applebury, her husband and daughter.
Additionally, between 2004 and March 22, 2013, Jill
Applebury used the medical practice’s business credit card to pay for items for
their own personal and/or business benefit.
The unauthorized charges included cell phone service for the Appleburys
and members of their family, internet service for their residence, business
licenses for businesses owned by Jill and Darin Applebury, automobile insurance
for their personal vehicles, and other personal items. Jill Applebury also, without the consent of
the Anchorage physician, put her nephew on the business cell phone plan, and
used the business credit card to pay for fund raising gift cards obtained
through GL Scripts to contribute to the same nephew’s youth soccer league. In all, Jill Applebury used the medical
practice’s business credit card to pay for her and her husband’s personal and
personal business expenses in the amount of $35,393.20.
The investigation also revealed that in October 2012, Jill
Applebury fraudulently used the medical practice’s business credit card to
purchase nearly $3,000 of medical products for her husband’s business, Rapid
Recovery Medical Service, Inc. The
fraudulent credit card purchases were made using the physician’s name and
address without the knowledge and permission of the Anchorage physician.
Through her schemes, Jill Applebury was overpaid more than
$550,000 for accounting and bookkeeping services, which also caused the medical
practice to overpay the employer’s portion of payroll taxes in the amount of
$23,469.69.
When imposing sentence upon Jill Applebury, Judge Burgess
stated that the scope of the crimes committed against the Anchorage physician
were breathtaking in that Jill Applebury treated the finances of the medical
practice “like her own personal piggy bank.”
Judge Burgess wanted to send a strong message to the financial community
that such conduct would not be tolerated.
Judge Burgess ordered Jill Applebury to no longer have any contact with
the financial records of any business organization; he also found Jill
Applebury to be a financial risk to third parties and ordered her to notify all
future employers of her felony convictions.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Anchorage
Police Department (APD) conducted the investigation leading to the successful
prosecution of this case. This case was
prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Retta-Rae Randall.
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