Gambling Led Fredericksburg Woman To Embezzle

Material Obessions, Gambling Led Fredericksburg Woman To Embezzle
Adrienne Carrington, 56, of Fredericksburg will serve 24 months in prison for stealing more than a half-million dollars from the American Diabetes Association.

By Dan Telvock

A gambling addiction and an obsession with her appearance led a Fredericksburg woman to embezzle almost $570,000 from the American Diabetes Association for almost a decade beginning in 2001, resulting in a 24-month prison sentence.

Adrienne Carrington, 56, will also have three years of supervised probation when she is released from prison. She pleaded guilty on Sept. 23, 2011.

Court records state that from August 2001 to September 2010, Carrington used her access to an American Diabetes Association bank account and accounting documents to wire transfer money to an account she had control of under her daughter's name. The government charged that Carrington made 133 separate wire transfers for a total of $569,827.

To hide her crimes, she altered internal accounting records to make the wire transfers appear as legitimate expenses for things like postage and subscriptions to magazines or newspapers. Carrington would withdraw the embezzled money by ATM, debit card and checks to pay for vacations, clothing, food and her gambling. She went on a cruise, a vacation to the Dominican Republic and trips to Reno.

Sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of 33 to 41 months and the U.S. Attorneys Office recommended a 36-month sentence.

"Defendant Carrington engaged in a serious crime," wrote the U.S. Attorneys Office in a filing recommending the 36-month sentence. "The defendant’s conduct did not represent a momentary lapse of judgment. Her fraud was significant and lengthy."

Carrington's response to the recommended sentence was in a 30-page filing, in which she explains that she became obsessed at a young age with her appearance and social status. Her closest friends knew her as a loving mother and a devoted wife who grew up in a stable home that didn't lack anything. But her father tragically died when she was a teenager and her sisted died of AIDS at a young age, both of which were major hardships for Carrington, the court record states.

"She struggled to repress her feelings about how deeply his death had affected her and, instead, projected to others that she was doing well," the court record states. "She began focusing on maintaining her outer appearance and obtaining material items, such as purses, clothing, shoes, etc. by whatever means necessary to maintain that appearance. As she entered adulthood, the satisfaction she received from material items led to a strong desire to acquire money and spend it purchasing unnecessary items."

But living this type of lifestyle got expensive and Carrington was only making between $30,000 and $60,000 a year. She quickly got in debt and after getting lucky at a casino winning $5,000, she began spending copious amounts of money at casinos.

"But, rather than winning more money, she fell further into debt," court records state. "It was in the midst of this downward spiral that Ms. Carrington began to embezzle money from the ADA."