KY office manager used ID theft, false time sheets to misappropriate $126,000
The former manager of a child-support collection office in Kentucky has admitted stealing $126,000 from the office.
Mary Elizabeth Pickett pleaded guilty in federal court on Sept. 11 to one charge involving mail fraud and one charge of aggravated identity theft.
Pickett, 56, of Flatwoods was manager of the Boyd County child-support office. The office has a contract with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services to collect and distribute child-support payments.
Pickett admitted that starting in January 2013, she wrote checks to herself or to her bank account from the office, forging the name of a supervisor on many of the checks to authorize them.
An indictment in a separate state case said Pickett stole the money from the payroll account.
Pickett continued writing checks until September 2019, when a contractor reported she was allegedly stealing and she was fired.
Pickett covered the thefts by submitting false payroll documents to the cabinet that said an employee identified as A.W. in the federal case worked 40 hours a week, according to her plea agreement.
The state provided money to pay A.W., but that person actually only worked 14 hours a week, creating extra money in the account, according to Pickett’s plea agreement.
Pickett continued writing checks until September 2019, when a contractor reported a suspicion that she was stealing. She was fired.
Pickett’s plea agreement said she agreed to a judgment of $126,313.90 to be repaid to the child-support office.
“Mrs. Pickett deeply regrets the bad decisions she made and accepts full responsibility,” her attorney, C. David Mussetter, said Tuesday.
The fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Pickett’s sentence is likely to be significantly less under federal guidelines, however.
U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning scheduled her to be sentenced in January.
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 11:24 AM.
