State Courts

Office manager?s sentence: two years in federal prison for fraud

By Ron Sylvester

A 51-year-old Wichita woman will spend more than two years in a federal prison for stealing more than $300,000 from the doctor?s office where she worked.

U.S. Senior District Judge Wesley Brown sentenced Frances E. Holt to 27 months in prison on Wednesday.

Holt pleaded guilty in September to mail fraud and wire fraud, admitting she made $323,356 in unauthorized purchases on a credit card issued to Wichita physician Charles W. Beck. Holt had worked for Beck since 1996, keeping payroll records, entering patient charges, printing checks and paying bills for the office.

But she also obtained a credit card without Beck?s knowledge and used it to buy items for herself, her friends and relatives.

Brown also ordered Holt to pay back the money she embezzled.

There is no parole from federal prison. After Holt?s release she will serve another three years probation.

Full post as published by What the Judge Ate for Breakfast on December 18, 2008 (boomark / email).