Bartlesville Woman Sentenced for Stealing Almost $400,000 from Family-Owned Business

Topics:  TransWood Carriers

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Oklahoma
18 September 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A Bartlesville woman was sentenced today in federal court for stealing $394,058.20 from her employer and submitting a false tax return, announced U.S. Attorney Trent Shores.

U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell sentenced Gina Lisa Preble, 59, of Bartlesville, to 26 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for bank fraud and subscribing to a false tax return. The court further ordered Preble to pay $394,058.20 in restitution.

“With five fraud related convictions since 1981, Gina Preble has made a career out of white collar crime,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. “It is not only armed robbers who cause economic harm to our community. Fraudsters like Gina Preble must be prosecuted and dealt serious consequences. Enough is enough. Not only will she be required to pay back the money she stole from the victim, but she will also spend some hard time in federal prison.”

Preble was employed as a clerk at TransWood Carriers Incorporated from 2011 until her termination in 2017. In an effort to disguise her thefts, Preble created fraudulent “draft checks” which she mixed in with legitimate business expense “draft checks” in order to trick her supervisor into signing them. Preble deposited fraudulent draft checks totaling $394,058.20 into her personal checking account, and used the funds for her own personal gain. Additionally in 2016, Preble signed and submitted a false tax return, omitting the stolen funds as income.

The Financial Litigation Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma will pursue the restitution owed to the victim.

IRS-Criminal Investigation and the FBI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles M. McLoughlin prosecuted the case.

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