Michelle Wilshire, a 50-year-old resident of Hickory, North Carolina, has been sentenced to 46 months in prison for embezzling over $900,000 from her employer. The announcement was made by Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
The case involved cooperation between several agencies. Donald “Trey” Eakins, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Charlotte, and Rodney Hopkins, Inspector in Charge of the Atlanta Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service were also part of the announcement.
Court documents revealed that Wilshire worked at a family-owned business in Conover, N.C., referred to as Company A, from 2016 to 2021. She managed the company’s Comdata account—a service used for fleet management and payment processing—and issued multiple prepaid debit cards under her name and others’. These included former employees, fictitious individuals, and current employees who were unaware of these cards’ existence. Between November 2017 and July 2021, she withdrew over $528,000 using these cards.
Wilshire also misappropriated company funds by issuing checks through Comdata’s services and making wire transfers into her personal bank account totaling more than $315,000. Additionally, she transferred over $58,000 into a former employee’s bank account.
Her actions extended to filing false tax returns from 2017 to 2021 that did not report the embezzled funds. On July 15, 2024, Wilshire pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and filing a false tax return.
U.S. Attorney Ferguson expressed gratitude towards IRS-CI and USPIS for their role in investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Savage and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Frick handled prosecution duties.
