A Fairfield woman who embezzled more than $1.5 million from her former Shelton employer was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court to two years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford also ordered Carolina Guerreno, 50, to pay full restitution.
To date, Guerreno has repaid her former employer approximately $400,000 out of the total amount stolen, which was $1,532,207.
At the time of the offense, Guerreno had been working as the chief financial officer for Barnum Financial Group in Shelton.
Guerreno pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in August 2022. After she serves her sentence, Guerreno will be on supervised release for two years.
The company discovered the embezzlement and fired Guerreno in February 2021, court documents show.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Guerreno had access to her employer’s bank accounts and was allowed to initiate financial transactions, including wiring company funds to other bank accounts. The theft took place over a period of approximately two years, between January 2019 until the company detected it in February 2021.
Guerreno embezzled the money by “altering company financial transactions and directing electronic payments from her employer’s bank account to her credit card accounts, her personal bank accounts, and to pay her home equity line of credit,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Court documents show Guerreno altered contract employee accounts by changing the banking information to her own, causing a payment to be deposited in her account. She would then revert the information back to the original. She also created duplicate payees that included her personal banking information. Once the fraudulent transaction went through, she deleted the duplicate payee.
On Feb. 11, 2021, the month the scheme was detected, Guerrero wired $50,546 from her employer’s account to her bank account, according to the government.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Miller said in a pre-sentencing memorandum that Guerreno had been earning $200,000 annually at the time of the offense.
Prosecutors say she used thousands of dollars to pay off her mortgage early. She also used stolen funds to upgrade her home, such as with an irrigation system, security system, paving project, kitchen redesign, furniture, appliances and hot tub. Court documents show she purchased a 2020 Audi Q7 for $81,400 in cash.
Guerreno also spent stolen money on trips to destinations such as Barcelona and London, and on personal luxuries such as jewelry and spa visits. She also put money toward acquiring a condo in Vermont, and used funds toward her children’s college savings and her retirement savings, according to the government.
“The defendant’s crime constitutes a serious offense,” Miller wrote, in the memorandum. “She exploited the access afforded to her by her employer and stole over 1.5 million dollars. The defendant was the CFO – the person principally responsible for the management and protection of the company’s finances. Instead, she stole money for about two years. She manipulated the company’s billing system. And she didn’t stop until she was caught.”
Attorney Allison Near of the law firm Jacobs & Dow in New Haven, who represents Guerreno, asked the judge to consider factors such as her client’s acceptance of responsibility and lack of criminal history.
“Ms. Guerreno has never equivocated in accepting responsibility for committing this crime, and she recognizes that she deserves to be punished,” Near wrote, in a pre-sentencing memorandum.
Near also noted that her client has made efforts at restitution, including paying back about $400,000 to date. According to Near, her client had been the sole provider for a family with high needs, such as medical bills.
“She faltered and started a pattern of stealing,” Near wrote. “While it is no excuse for her misconduct in this case, her circumstances give context to why someone so driven and hard-working would resort to stealing. This conduct is an anomaly for Ms. Guerreno, and she will spend the rest of her adult life trying to reconcile her behavior.”
Barnum Financial Group did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
Contact Michelle Tuccitto Sullo at msullo@newhavenbiz.com.