Serial Embezzler Busted In Stafford: Police

STAFFORD, VA—A little more than two months after pleading guilty to embezzlement charges in Prince William County, a Fredericksburg woman was indicted Monday on unrelated embezzlement charges in Stafford County, according to the Stafford County Sheriff's Office.

Debra Ann Jones, 58, was indicted on nine counts of embezzlement, nine counts of forgery and one count of identity theft. The latest charges involve theft from Art and Sign FX in Stafford County. The others came from her time as a bookkeeper for Ruskin Landscaping.

Jones' problems Monday basically had their genesis On Oct. 4 of 2017, when she was arrested for embezzling $162,000 from the landscaping company in Prince William County. She was charged with four counts apiece of embezzlement and forgery, and pleaded guilty to the charges May 31.

On Oct. 10, six days after that first arrest, the owner of Art and Sign FX called Stafford police. He said officers from PWC Police told him one of his employees, Jones, had embezzled $225,768.50 from his business.

In confirming that, Stafford officers found that, according to their counterparts, Jones had fraudulently written checks for that total. Also, numerous company checks were written to Jones, and canceled checks in large amounts had been sent to Ruskin Landscaping. Jones later said she used some of the money she embezzled from Art and Sign FX to go toward paying back the landscaping company.

Photo: Stafford County Sheriff's Office