Employee Who Stole $414K Spent It On Wedding, Redskins Tickets

BETHESDA, MD — A bookkeeper for a Bethesda architecture firm who admitted she stole more than $400,000 from the company over three years says she spent the money on a trip, wedding, NFL tickets and other persk.

Amy Ranee Powell, 41, of Huntingtown, earlier pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of stolen money in connection with a scheme to embezzle about $414,000 from her employer, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Maryland.

On Wednesday she was sentenced to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for interstate transportation of stolen money in connection with a scheme to embezzle over $414,000 from her employer. A judge also ordered Powell to forfeit and pay restitution of $414,122.

From 2003 through 2013, Powell’s duties at the Bethesda firm – which was not named by federal authorities -- included bookkeeping and office management. Prosecutors say Powell wrote checks from the company’s bank account to pay the company’s bills. The company’s owner endorsed the number of blank checks needed to pay the bills, and then gave the checks to Powell to be completed.

Powell admitted that from December 2010 through September 2013, she wrote at least 82 unauthorized checks from the company’s account, payable to herself. The amounts ranged from $500 to $8,000, and totaled $420,444, authorities said.

She deposited at least 16 unauthorized company checks, totaling $80,546, at her bank in Springfield, VA. When Powell’s actions were discovered in September 2013, her bank returned $6,322 to her employer.

Federal officials say Powell admitted that she diverted at least $414,122 from the company’s bank account and deposited the money in her own bank account.

According to evidence presented to the court, Powell spent all or nearly all of the money she stole, including the following: at least $18,070 on tickets for Washington Redskins games, at least $17,157 on wedding expenses, at least $2,994 at a florist, $2,855 at a consumer electronics store, and thousands of dollars more on vacations and numerous expensive meals.