Falls woman gets 15 months for embezzling to cover gambling debts
By John Diedrich of the Journal Sentinel
Oct. 2, 2014
The former office manager of a Milwaukee-area talent agency who stole more than $1 million from her former employer to cover gambling losses was sentenced Thursday to 15 months in federal prison.
Yvonne Dikiara, 56, of Menomonee Falls also was ordered to pay a little more than $1 million in restitution. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman imposed the sentence.
Dikiara was the office manager of Talent Associates in Brookfield and later in Menomonee Falls, which places musicians and other artists in shows throughout the Midwest. The business is made up of several operations involved in entertainment and recreation in southern Wisconsin.
From 1986 to 2012, Dikiara handled the firm's books and records, paid bills and had authorization to sign the president's name to certain documents, according to court documents.
In 1998, she began losing money playing slot machines at Potawatomi Bingo Casino. Between 2001 and 2012, she lost nearly $1.7 million gambling there, documents said.
To cover her losses, she wrote checks to herself, using phony vendor names, depositing the checks in her personal account and forging the president's name, court documents say.
John Mangold, president of Talent Associates and one of the founders of the Wisconsin Area Music Industry awards organization, said Dikiara's theft led to great hardship at his firm.
"I had to take a severe pay cut and make difficult decisions for all my businesses based on the bogus financial info Yvonne was providing, which was covering up her embezzlement to fund her gambling addiction at Potawatomi," he said.
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