Tulare Woman Sentenced for Embezzling from Trucking Company When Working as Office Manager

Topics:  Stephanie Yost, Faulkner Trucking

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California
July 16, 2012

FRESNO, CA—Stephanie Yost, 39, of Tulare, was sentenced today by Chief United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii to three years and a month in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiring to commit wire fraud and six counts of wire fraud related to an embezzlement scheme she orchestrated with two coworkers, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. She was also ordered to pay $243,841 in restitution to Faulkner Trucking.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Mark J. McKeon prosecuted the case. According to court documents, between April 2004 and April 2005, Yost developed a scheme to embezzle money from Faulkner Trucking by preparing duplicate pay checks for herself and co-defendants Vickie Ann Kyle and Dustie Denise Levine. Kyle, a secretary, and Levine, a billing clerk, were each sentenced to 36 months’ probation and $37,940 in restitution.

In sentencing Yost, Judge Ishii said that crimes of embezzlement strike at the heart of the trust relationship between employers and employees and require a significant punishment.