Woman sentenced for stealing over $900K from husband, family

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Sunday, April 26, 2015
Woman sentenced for stealing over $900K from husband, family
A husband discovered his wife was stealing from he and his mother.

A husband discovered that his own wife was stealing from he and his mother; now their family in this case is out almost a million dollars.

The man, who doesn't want to reveal his identity, is talking about his wife.

"She was very organized and good at setting up things, doctor appointments, reaching out to elder services and coordinating support for my mom," he said.

His wife also offered to help his elderly parents keep track of their finances as they got older.

The problem: she was actually stealing from them. When her mother-in-law would ask questions about the financial statements, he says:

"She would lie to my mother, she would say, 'Don't worry about it, I took care of it, I transferred it to another IRA that pays higher interest,'" he said. "Always some type of excuse or lie. My mom was always concerned, but she didn't want to cause problems in our marriage."

At one point, his mother knew something was wrong and showed him some suspicious online transfers.

"Discovery, Chase Freedom, Capital One Bank for $5,000 and $4,000 and $6,000," he said.

They were credit cards his mother didn't even know existed. When he questioned his wife about the discrepancies, he said, "She got upset. She left the household and hasn't been back since."

Postal inspectors discovered she had embezzled more than $900,000 from her in-laws.

"Naturally, I felt responsible for not only what she did to my mother, but my siblings and nieces and nephews," he said.

But that wasn't all. He soon realized his own life was in shambles.

"My mortgage wasn't being paid, my income taxes weren't being filed for 2011 and 2012 - I had to get a loan modification in order to keep my house," he said.

"When you get married, you oath with each other through thick and thin so you don't think something like this will happen, so you don't keep your guard up and look for it," said David Breton, U.S. Postal Inspector.

Inspectors say he is currently filing for personal bankruptcy in order to rectify everything. But the emotional betrayal is even worse.

"It will be difficult to see the mother of my children sent to prison, she is facing up to 20 years for wire fraud and steal $985,000 from my mother and dead father," he said.

The victim in our story and the suspect involved have since divorced. His ex-wife was sentenced to 18 months in prison for wire fraud.