Eden Woman Pleads Guilty to Fraud

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Deborah L. Whitney, age 43, of Eden, Vermont, pleaded guilty to four federal fraud charges today. In a hearing before Chief Judge William K. Sessions, III, Whitney admitted two wire fraud violations, a mail fraud violation, and the filing of a false tax return.

Whitney, a bookkeeper and sole proprietor of D&DD Bookkeeping, was indicted by a federal Grand Jury in Burlington last Summer. She was charged with defrauding multiple area businesses and individuals out of money during the late 1990's through 2007. In court today, Whitney admitted that during that time period she used various misrepresentations to defraud bookkeeping customers and others out of money which she used for personal expenses. She admitted that while employed as bookkeeper for Arthur’s Department Store in Morrisville, Vermont during the late 1990's and early 2000's, she prepared many checks payable to herself, drawn on store bank accounts, and forged the signature of the store’s owner Arthur Breault. She admitted diverting to herself hundreds of thousands of dollars from the store. Whitney also admitted that while employed as bookkeeper for Stanley Wescom Construction, Inc. of Eden, Vermont in 2003-2004, she prepared many checks payable to herself drawn on company bank accounts and, without authority, used a signature stamp of Stanley Wescom to endorse the checks. She also admitted using false pretenses to obtain “loans” of $34,000 and $27,500, from Christopher Ferland and Steven Carbone, respectively.

The two wire fraud counts arose from the Wescom and Ferland frauds. The mail fraud count arose from the Carbone fraud. The tax fraud count arose from Whitney’s false IRS Form 1040 filing for 2004, understating her income.

Judge Sessions scheduled sentencing for September 9, 2009 in Burlington.

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Vermont State Police. Whitney is represented by Burlington attorney Doug Kallen. The United States is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Darrow.

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