She fell for Match.com scam, took $4M from KY tourism group. Shock probation denied.
A Kentucky woman who stole nearly $4 million from the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau was denied shock probation by a Kenton County judge, according to court records.
Bridget Johnson, 59, has served less than one year of her 15-year prison sentence for embezzling $3.8 million while she was the bureau’s finance director, according to court records. She pleaded guilty to three felonies — abuse of public trust, theft and unlawful access to a computer — and was sentenced in December.
Johnson asked for shock probation in April. She told prosecutors she had been the victim of an online dating scam, according to multiple reports. She said she met a man on Match.com who claimed to be from Fort Thomas. He asked her to wire money so that he could return home, she said, according to FOX 19.
Investigators said she lost $250,000 of her own money in the scheme, started stealing money from the bureau, and wound up sending the man millions of dollars, according to WKRC Local 12.
After using online checks to embezzle money from May 2017 to September 2018, she was fired as finance director in October 2018, according to court records. She was taken into custody by police on Nov. 16, 2018, according to her arrest citation.
Authorities also charged Keith Tasher of Brooklyn, New York, in connection to Johnson’s crimes, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Court records show Tasher was charged with theft of $1 million or more and engaging in organized crime. His pretrial conference is set to begin June 8 in Kenton County, according to court records.
This story was originally published May 28, 2020 at 11:08 AM.