Woman charged for embezzling over $50,000 from Heartland Dental
Feb 2024, Milwaukee, WI.
A Muskego woman has been charged with theft and money laundering for allegedly embezzling over $50,000 while working at a dental company in Glendale.
According to a criminal complaint obtained from the Glendale Police Department, 36-year-old Sarah Kasprzak submitted 22 false invoices to customers between February and August 2023, embezzling $52,230 from the company where she worked, Heartland Dental, LLC, which provides operational and employment support to dentists.
Kasprzak was charged with theft in a business setting and money laundering an amount between $10,000 and $100,000, felonies which each come with a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment for a maximum of 10 years.
Kasprzak is scheduled to appear in court for an initial hearing on Feb. 21.
Kasprzak created fraudulent invoices to advance her scheme
According to the complaint:
The company’s regional manager reported a series of potentially fraudulent transactions to Glendale police on Aug. 25, 2023, after noticing suspicious activity on client invoices.
In each instance, a fraudulent invoice for the company’s services was posted to a former patient’s account. Then, the invoice would be quickly refunded, crediting the balance back to one of three different personal cards in Kasprzak’s name.
These refunds came from Heartland Dental’s financial accounts, causing the company to suffer a loss of $52,230.
Investigators identified Kasprzak after confirming she was the only employee who was working during each of the 22 transaction dates and had access to the former customer records. Further reviews of the transactions show that they were conducted using Kasprzak’s employee credentials.
Heartland Dental, 7040 N. Port Washington Road, hired Kasprzak in March 2016 as the practice manager of operations, giving her access to the company’s financial accounting and invoicing system.
Her employment was terminated on Aug. 26, 2023.
In reviewing Kasprzak’s spending activity throughout 2023, investigators found that Kasprzak spent the unlawfully obtained money reducing credit card liabilities for personal expenses that included charges at restaurants, retail stores and Amazon purchases.
In an interview with investigators, Kasprzak admitted to conducting the scheme, “cuz we needed the money.”
“We were gonna lose everything,” she said, telling investigators she had planned to pay back the accounts she had taken money from.
She told investigators she would only take, “whatever we were over on those cards,” and stated she had no money in her savings account.
Source: Muskego woman charged with embezzling $52,000 from Glendale business (jsonline.com)
