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ALEXANDRIA, La. – Carlina Moore, 37, of Alexandria, Louisiana, was sentenced today by United States District Judge David C. Joseph to 12 months and 1 day in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, on wire fraud charges.  Moore was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $121,600.50.

Moore pleaded guilty on August 4, 2021 to a Bill of Information charging her with wire fraud. Moore was employed by the Montessori Educational Center, Inc. (MEC) as a bookkeeper from May 2018 to August 2020 and she handled all in-house bookkeeping for them.

According to information presented to the court at the hearing, on or about August 25, 2020, the MEC’s administrator reviewed their bank account and discovered a questionable transaction. This prompted the administrator to conduct a further review of the bank and credit card accounts. Their investigation into the questionable transaction revealed that Moore was embezzling funds from the MEC’s accounts without their knowledge or authorization.

Law enforcement agents further investigated the fraudulent activity and confirmed that Moore had in fact defrauded the MEC by transmitting funds by way of wire communications in interstate commerce. Moore admitted that she devised a scheme to defraud the MEC and that she did so in order to obtain money and property from the MEC fraudulently and for her own personal gain. She admitted that she embezzled $121,600.50 from the MEC.

The United States Secret Service investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Danny Siefker prosecuted the case.