Tulare Woman Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement from Trucking Company When Working as Office Manager

Topics:  Stephanie Yost, Faulkner Trucking

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California
January 3, 2012

FRESNO, CA—United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that today Stephanie Yost, 39, of Tulare, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and to six counts of wire fraud related to an embezzlement scheme she orchestrated with two coworkers.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Mark J. McKeon and Ian Garriques are prosecuting the case.

According to the guilty plea, Yost admitted that between April 2004 and April 2005, she 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. According to court documents, Kyle was a secretary and Levine was a billing clerk at Falkner Trucking. The total loss amount, which will be determined by the court at sentencing, was between $120,000 and $241,000.

Yost is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii on April 2, 2012. Kyle and Levine previously pleaded guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced on February 27, 2012. The maximum statutory penalty for the conspiracy is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum statutory penalty for each count of wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentences, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.