Peninsula Woman Facing $1 Million Fine, 30 Years In Prison For Fraud Scheme

A Pacifica woman who worked as a bookkeeper for San Francisco delicatessens pleaded guilty to bank fraud in federal court on Wednesday, prosecutors said.

Beginning in 2008, Krisinda Messer, 37, created 130 fraudulent checks totaling $436,396, all but two of which she made payable to her father's company, American Backflow Company, or ABC, according to the U.S.
Attorney's Office.

Messer admitted that ABC was not a creditor of the delicatessens and there was no business relationship between them. She also admitted that she forged the signature of the delicatessens' owners on most of the checks, prosecutors said.

In an effort to conceal the fraudulent checks from her employers, Messer created a fake company account on the accounting software QuickBooks and used the fake company to produce checks written to ABC so that they would appear in the books, prosecutors said.

Messer also admitted that she did not report the income on her federal income tax returns from 2008 through 2011.

A federal grand jury indicted Messer on May 12, 2015, and she was charged with 12 counts of bank fraud, four counts of aggravated identity theft, and three counts of subscribing to false tax returns.

Messer agreed to plead guilty in court in San Francisco on Wednesday to one count of bank fraud and the remaining counts will be dismissed.

Messer was released on a $50,000 bond. Her sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 17 and she faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million plus restitution to the victims, prosecutors said.

— By Bay City News Service / Image via Shutterstock