Compliance July 8, 2009

Woman Sentenced to Prison for 401(k) Theft

July 8, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A woman who was accused of fraudulently arranging for an $18,000 401(k) plan distribution from a co-worker's account and then cashing the check by forging the person's signature has been sentenced to a one-year jail term.
Reported by

A Justice Department news release said a federal judge also mandated that Dana Wachter serve three years of supervised probation and pay $38,000 in restitution for the total stolen from her co-worker.

The announcement said Wachter was accused of stealing the co-worker’s social security and other personal ID numbers to authorize the 401(k) payout and then steal the resulting check that was later cashed.

Wachter was sentenced in June 2009 in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.   She was indicted in June 2008 on one count each of aggregated identity theft, mail fraud, and theft from an employee benefit covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.  

«