State Treasurer Employee Admits to Embezzling $750,000
» Gatehouse News Service - 21 August 2008
SPRINGFIELD - A veteran state treasurer’s employee admitted Wednesday she embezzled $750,000 from the state, but her plea could mean she will get a break when sentenced later this year.
Debra Kay Kirby, 54, of Taylorville was told by U.S. Magistrate Judge Byron Cudmore that she faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on a wire fraud charge and up to 10 years’ imprisonment for money laundering.
Kirby pleaded guilty without having first arranged a deal with federal prosecutors. That can lead to fewer years in prison because authorities often look at such a plea as a sign that the accused is taking responsibility for his or her crime and working toward rehabilitation.
She also will have to pay back $263,000 she is accused of stealing and spending.
Assistant U.S. attorney Gregory Gilmore said Kirby, who had risen through the ranks in her 33 years with the treasurer’s office, opened an account at U.S.
Bank under the name of Debo Kraft. She then transferred $750,000 from the state to that account by way of a bank in Texas.
» Gatehouse News Service - 21 August 2008
SPRINGFIELD - A veteran state treasurer’s employee admitted Wednesday she embezzled $750,000 from the state, but her plea could mean she will get a break when sentenced later this year.
Debra Kay Kirby, 54, of Taylorville was told by U.S. Magistrate Judge Byron Cudmore that she faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on a wire fraud charge and up to 10 years’ imprisonment for money laundering.
Kirby pleaded guilty without having first arranged a deal with federal prosecutors. That can lead to fewer years in prison because authorities often look at such a plea as a sign that the accused is taking responsibility for his or her crime and working toward rehabilitation.
She also will have to pay back $263,000 she is accused of stealing and spending.
Assistant U.S. attorney Gregory Gilmore said Kirby, who had risen through the ranks in her 33 years with the treasurer’s office, opened an account at U.S.
Bank under the name of Debo Kraft. She then transferred $750,000 from the state to that account by way of a bank in Texas.
